Why AI “Fixes” Things That Aren’t Broken (and How to Prevent It)

Yesterday, I explained what to do when AI forgets about past conversations.

Today, Eugene wrote in with this gripe about AI:

“I hate when you, for instance, write a story or blog and you…ask the AI for stuff like grammar corrections or just some simple editing, and then it sometimes changes your story.

First up, checking grammar and spelling with AI:

I’ve tested various AI models extensively for grammar and spelling fixes. The results are…variable. ChatGPT-5 is clever, but the latest LLMs still struggle with specific grammar and spelling fixes.

Here’s a fun example:

Ernest is rolling in his grave right now.

Try that test for yourself, and ChatGPT or Claude might count the letter M correctly. I found a similar errant test on X about counting Bs in the word blueberry that ChatGPT aced for me.

But AI can and will still trip up.