This is the reasoning why - Because 17 has become a kind of “human-looking random number”, and LLMs inherit that bias from human-generated text.
When you say “pick a number between 1 and 30,” an LLM usually isn’t running a true random-number generator. It is predicting which token is a plausible continuation. Numbers like 1, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 feel too obvious, while numbers near the edges feel less “random.” 17 has several properties that make it unusually attractive:
It’s near the middle, but not exactly the midpoint.
It’s odd.
It’s prime.
It doesn’t end in 0 or 5.
Humans themselves disproportionately choose numbers like 7, 17, 23, and 27 when asked to “pick randomly.”
Training data contains countless examples where people use 17 specifically as an arbitrary or supposedly random number.
So models learn a statistical association something like:
> “When someone asks for a random-looking integer, 17 is a very plausible answer.”
There’s also a reinforcing effect: people have noticed the phenomenon, posted about “ChatGPT always picking 17,” tested models with it, and generated even more text associating that prompt with 17. That can further strengthen the pattern in later training data.
It’s similar to the famous “pick a number from 1–10” → 7 effect in humans. Seven feels random because it avoids the obvious choices. For 1–30, 17 occupies a similar psychological sweet spot.
@GoblinWithAPlan@CreagenDow I'm not. I don't pay for that shit. I put it through grok and chatgpt and they said 17 but I thought Geminis response was funny
@gtainfobr He doesn't have that function in the build that he is using. He is using a small slice of the early game that was used in one of the builds for testing. The areas he is showing will likely be completely different come launch.
A build doesnt mean full game. It's likely he has a slice of the game that was intended for testing. There's probably a reason why his videos are all around the same length and why he hasn't got access to both characters. The build that he has is probably a slice of an early stage of the game. I've seen enough. I don't care to see any more spoilers. I'll wait until the game comes out to enjoy it