21st Century Engineering by Anirudh Dhebar

May 2025

Admitting ‘I don’t know’ opens us to learning

A colleague recently forwarded me a column with an intriguing title: “The Death of ‘I Don’t Know:' Is AI Making Us Smarter or Just More Uncertain?” (Psychology Today). “I don’t know” must have been in the air; 10 days later, a Feb. 11 story “Why Do AI Chatbots Have Such a Hard Time Admitting ‘I Don’t Know?’” appeared in The Wall Street Journal.


You must be an IISE member to have full access to this content. Please log in at the top right corner of this Web page. 

IISE members visiting this site for the first time must register. As part of this process you will create a user name and password. This is a one-time process that requires your member number. 

If you are not a member, join IISE now and begin enjoying benefits immediately, including full access to ISE magazine.

SHARE