Chances are, the question “Is a penguin a toaster?” made you pause. Perhaps you thought, “What a ridiculous question!” or even cracked a smile. That immediate sense of absurdity is a fundamentally human reaction. For us, emotion often precedes logic.
Now, let’s pose the same question to a generative AI. When prompted, Gemini provides a characteristically robotic answer: a flat, factual denial.
No, a penguin is not a toaster.
- A penguin is a living, aquatic, flightless bird found in the Southern Hemisphere.
- A toaster is an electrical kitchen appliance designed to heat slices of bread.
They are two completely different things.
ChatGPT’s response is similar, though it offers a bit more detail and a conversational touch by mentioning novelty penguin-shaped toasters. While this showcases a ‘quirk’ of its conversational training, the core response is the same: it starts with a firm “No.”
No — a penguin is a living, flightless bird (family Spheniscidae); a toaster is an electrical appliance for browning bread. One breathes, moves, and eats fish; the other plugs into a wall and heats slices of bread.
(That said, there are novelty penguin-shaped toasters1 — which look like penguins but are still toasters.)
This difference highlights the core of how these AIs operate. They aren’t ‘understanding’ the absurdity. They are simply selecting the most statistically likely response from their vast training data—which, in this case, is to deny a factually incorrect statement.
That flash of surprise, the emotional gut reaction? It’s entirely absent from the equation.
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In fact, the ones from a railway company in Japan, as part of a campaign, had penguin faces. ↩︎