Greetings Tech Nomads,

Today we are looking at: How Smart Is Your AI, Really?

TL;DR: Ask your AI a simple, tricky question and see if it can think beyond the words — that’s how you know how clever it truly is.

As more people play with AI tools, they’re starting to notice something important — prompting is everything. A good question gives you a great answer; a lazy question gets you robot noise. One fun way to test your AI’s smarts is with a logic riddle about everyday life. Nothing fancy — just something like: if you live 500 feet (about 1½ football fields) from a car wash and your car needs cleaning, should you walk or drive?

It sounds silly at first, but the answers can be telling. Some AIs might say, “Walk! It’s healthy and close.” That shows they can read distance but not context. Others, though, spot the hidden snag: you can’t wash your car unless you bring your car. That small leap from words to meaning — that’s real reasoning, not just text prediction.

Here’s what’s happening under the hood. Simpler models focus on surface-level language — they see “500 ft” (152 meters) and assume “short walk.” More advanced systems catch the intent — they realize “need to wash your car” equals “your car must be there.” That subtle shift shows how large language models handle not just facts (numbers, words) but logic (relationships between them).

Why does this matter? Because as we rely on AI for writing, planning, or solving problems, knowing how it “thinks” helps us pick the right one for the job. A conversational AI that writes poetry may not be the best for code debugging — and vice versa. The “car wash test” is just a playful way to peek inside the machine’s mind.

So go ahead — give your AI a small puzzle and see what kind of thinker you’ve got. You might be surprised who’s actually paying attention.

Be seeing you…