L012 · Asking well · 2 min · Interactive
Temperature: safe or creative
Temperature is the setting that decides whether AI picks the most likely next word or takes a risk.
01 · The idea
Remember that a chatbot picks each next word from a list of likely options. Temperature controls how adventurous that pick is.
Low temperature means it nearly always picks the top option. Answers are steady and predictable, good for facts, summaries and code. High temperature lets it pick less likely words. Answers become more varied and creative, but also more likely to drift or go wrong.
Most chat apps do not show this setting, but developer tools do. In a normal chat you can get a similar effect with words: "give me the most standard answer" or "give me ten wild ideas".
Try it below: move the temperature slider and watch the odds for the next word flatten or sharpen.
02 · Think of it like this
Low temperature is a chef following the recipe exactly. High temperature is the same chef improvising with whatever is in the fridge.
03 · Try the toy
Guess the next word
Press Sample to let the AI add one word at a time. Then slide the temperature and try again.
The best thing about Monday is
What could come next
- the37%
- coffee22%
- that18%
- it11%
- nothing7%
- lunch5%
The AI never “knows” the next word. It gives every possible word a score, turns the scores into odds, then rolls weighted dice. Temperature changes how lopsided the dice are: at 0 it always takes the favourite, so you get the same sentence every time; turned up, long shots get a real chance and the writing gets surprising.
04 · Do it now
05 · Quick check
Words in this lesson
See also
L082Asking well · 2 min
Prompt in Vietnamese or English?
Write in the language you think in, and ask for the answer in the language you need.
L006How AI thinks · 2 min
The context window: AI's short-term memory
A chatbot can only see a limited amount of text at once, and in a very long chat the oldest parts can slip away.
L004How AI thinks · 1 min
Tokens: how AI reads
AI does not read words; it reads tokens, small chunks of text that are often parts of words.
L003How AI thinks · 1 min
What a chatbot really does
A chatbot writes its answer one small piece at a time, each time picking a likely next word.