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Chain-of-thought
Prompting or training a model to work through intermediate steps explicitly, which often improves reasoning accuracy.
Definition
Chain-of-thought elicits step-by-step reasoning, either by asking the model to think aloud or through training that rewards deliberate reasoning. It helps on arithmetic, logic, and planning, though visible reasoning is not always faithful to the model's actual computation. Reasoning models internalise this behaviour.
Why it matters when choosing a tool
Understanding chain-of-thought explains why asking an assistant to reason step by step often yields better answers on tricky questions.
Where you will meet it
AI Assistants, AI Learning & Tutoring
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