Why AI Couldn't Count the R's in "Strawberry"

Why couldn't AI count the R's in "strawberry"? Because it doesn't read letters. It reads tokens. Part 3 of AI for Beginners: what tokens are, AI's weirdest blind spots, why some languages cost more, the three limits every user hits, and five habits that get around them. ⏱ Chapters 0:00 Why AI said "2" 0:57 1. What a token is 2:30 2. Why "strawberry" broke it 3:47 3. Not all languages cost the same 4:46 Limit 1: how much it can read 5:48 Quick one 5:58 Limit 2: how much it can write 6:38 Limit 3: how much you can use 7:37 5 token-smart habits 8:21 What this means for you 9:07 Your turn 9:15 Recap ✅ Five token-smart habits 1. New chat for each new task. 2. Paste only the part that matters. 3. Key instruction at the start (and again at the end of long requests). 4. Ask for long things in parts; ask for short answers when short will do. 5. For counting, spelling or maths: step by step, then check. 📚 AI for Beginners (the whole series, in order):    • AI for Beginners   📰 Sources Tokens: OpenAI Help Center, "What are tokens and how to count them" The "strawberry" problem: widespread 2024 reports and tokenizer explainers Languages and tokens: Petrov et al., "Language Model Tokenizers Introduce Unfairness Between Languages" (NeurIPS 2023) "Lost in the middle": Liu et al., "Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contexts" (TACL 2024) 💬 What's the weirdest mistake you've seen an AI make? ▶ Watch next: AI, Machine Learning, LLMs, Agents: The Words Explained:    • AI, Machine Learning, LLMs, Agents: The Wo...   🔔 One honest AI test every week:    / @taiphambuilds   Notes: Token splits and numbers shown are illustrations; exact splits differ by model. Mai is a fictional example. Narration is an AI voice. Music (YouTube Audio Library): "Toys Are Us", "Happy Tails" and "Travelling Light" by Blue Deer Studio; "Back To The Start" by Patrick Jordan Patrikios; "Jewelry Box" by Tim Bluhm. 🌐 https://phamphutai.com #ai #aiforbeginners #chatgpt