The two kinds of answer

A deterministic step gives the same answer every time. Given this input, when this happens, then that result, always, with no room to differ. A probabilistic one gives you the most likely answer, which is usually right and occasionally is not. Claude is probabilistic by design. That is not a flaw to be engineered out, it is the entire reason to reach for it, because judgement cannot be reduced to a rule you write down in advance.

Which means the choice is rarely about wording. It is this: if a deterministic result is required then a probabilistic result will not do. No amount of firmness in the prompt closes that gap, because you are not asking for a better answer, you are asking for a different kind of answer. Usually right is a fine property for a judgement and a useless one for a rule that has to hold.

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Part of When to use AI and when not to.