How Do LLMs Reason? A Look Inside the ‘Thinking’ Mind of AI
Last Updated on August 28, 2025 by Editorial Team
Author(s): Abhishek Gautam
Originally published on Towards AI.
How Do LLMs Reason? A Look Inside the ‘Thinking’ Mind of AI
It’s the question at the heart of the AI revolution. When you prompt a Large Language Model (LLM) and it lays out a step-by-step plan, solves a complex problem, or generates a creative strategy, is it actually thinking? Are we witnessing a genuine spark of digital consciousness, or are we being captivated by an incredibly sophisticated illusion?
The article delves into the distinction between Large Language Models (LLMs) and Large Reasoning Models (LRMs), exploring how LRMs have advanced to articulate their reasoning processes. It discusses the use of structured puzzles to test these models’ cognitive abilities, revealing unexpected patterns of performance in different complexity regimes. While LRMs demonstrate impressive problem-solving capabilities at moderate complexity, they struggle and often fail at higher complexities, indicating an interesting divergence from human reasoning. The research emphasizes the limitations and strengths of these models, and their inability to genuinely understand logic, raising crucial concerns as AI agents enter real-world applications.
Read the full blog for free on Medium.
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