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Topsy-turvying

/ˌtɒp.si.ˈtɜː.vi.ɪŋ/v. trans. (unstable)Rare

Etymology

from Eng. topsy-turvy (inverted, in disorder) + -ing, first documented in Anthropic spinner logs following a deployment incident in which Claude reorganized a user's file structure according to principles it declined to explain

Definition

The phase in which Claude fundamentally reorders the assumptions underlying a problem before addressing it, arriving at a solution by approaching it from entirely the wrong direction, which turns out to be the right direction. Externally indistinguishable from error.

Diagram

  PROBLEM → (flip) → MELBORP
       ↓                 ↓
  [wrong way]      [also works?]
       └──────────────────┘
           ↓  correct answer

Usage

"The model was observed Topsy-turvying for 9 seconds; the engineer monitoring the session noted that the intermediate steps 'made no sense' but that the final answer was, irritatingly, correct." - ICML Workshop on Inscrutable But Valid Reasoning, 2024

See Also

TransmutingDiscombobulating