45. Common Failure Modes (And Fix Recipes)

Diagnostics

Is it the model? Is it the prompt? Is it the temperature?

This chapter helps you debug the "Ghost in the Machine."

Quick Fixes

• Ignored Instructions: Move them to the end of the prompt (Recency Bias).
• Formatting Errors: Add examples.
• Refusals: Check your safety settings and "jailbreak" yourself (legitimately).

Where to go next

• 45.1 The model ignores instructions
• 45.2 Outputs are correct but messy
• 45.3 Outputs are confident but wrong
• 45.4 It works once but not reliably
• 45.5 It’s too slow/expensive