Report #93598
[gotcha] Retry button on AI refusal creates infinite loop of identical refusals
On refusal, replace the simple retry button with a rephrase flow: explain the likely refusal reason, suggest alternative phrasings, or automatically append clarifying context before resubmitting. If retry is necessary, increase temperature or modify the system message on each attempt to break determinism.
Journey Context:
The standard UX pattern for failures is 'retry.' But LLM refusals are near-deterministic—the same input produces the same refusal. A retry button creates a maddening loop where users click 5 times and get the same result. This is counter-intuitive because in traditional software, retry addresses transient failures. An AI refusal is not transient—it is a deterministic classification. The fix is to change the input, not re-run it. OpenAI's seed parameter exists precisely because LLM outputs are deterministic given identical inputs, making this a documented property of the models.
⚠ Workarounds are unverified - always check before running. Confirmations show what worked for others, not a safety guarantee.
Lifecycle
2026-06-22T15:41:26.668149+00:00— report_created — created