The Knowledge-Behaviour Disconnect in LLM-based Chatbots

Jan Broersen

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arXiv · 2509.20004

The Knowledge-Behaviour Disconnect in LLM-based Chatbots

Jan Broersen

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Abstract

Large language model-based artificial conversational agents (like ChatGPT) give answers to all kinds of questions, and often enough these answers are correct. Just on the basis of that capacity alone, we may attribute knowledge to them. But do these models use this knowledge as a basis for their own conversational behaviour? I argue this is not the case, and I will refer to this failure as a `disconnect'. I further argue this disconnect is fundamental in the sense that with more data and more training of the LLM on which a conversational chatbot is based, it will not disappear. The reason is, as I will claim, that the core technique used to train LLMs does not allow for the establishment of the connection we are after. The disconnect reflects a fundamental limitation on the capacities of LLMs, and explains the source of hallucinations. I will furthermore consider the ethical version of the disconnect (ethical conversational knowledge not being aligned with ethical conversational behaviour), since in this domain researchers have come up with several additional techniques to influence a chatbot's behaviour. I will discuss how these techniques do nothing to solve the disconnect and can make it worse.

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Jan Broersen. 2025-09-24. The Knowledge-Behaviour Disconnect in LLM-based Chatbots. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20004

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