The Illusion of Thinking: Why Even the Smartest AI Models Struggle to Truly Reason
The Illusion of Thinking: Why Even the Smartest AI Models Struggle to Truly Reason In June 2025, Apple published a research paper titled The Illusion of Thinking, and it couldn’t be more aptly named. In this study, Apple’s researchers pulled back the curtain on what we often assume about Large Language Models (LLMs): that their convincing chain-of-thought answers reflect actual reasoning. Spoiler alert—they don’t. Or at least, not reliably. This post breaks down what Apple discovered, how it compares with tools like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek, and Claude, and what it all means for the future of “thinking” machines. What Apple Found: Simulated Thinking Falls Apart Apple coined the term Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) for LLMs explicitly trained or prompted to reason step-by-step—like how ChatGPT uses “Let’s think step by step.” These models were tested on logical puzzles like Tower of Hanoi, River Crossing, and Blocks World, where complexity can be scaled in measurable ...