First, the golden rule of this chapter: when something acts up, it is not your fault and you didn't break it. Nobody's ever broken an AI by asking it something. Find your symptom below.
"It gave me a wrong answer — confidently"
- That's the hallucination from Chapter Four — the machine's one famous flaw, a bum steer delivered in a sure voice. Not a malfunction; a known quirk of how it works.
- The fix is one sentence: "Are you sure? Double-check that." It genuinely re-examines and often corrects itself. For anything load-bearing — money, health, law, directions to the fish fry — verify with an official source (Chapter Five).
- Names, dates, phone numbers, and exact quotes are its weakest events. Trust it for explanation, double-check it for lookup.
"It forgot what we were talking about"
- Long chats overflow. Remember the context window (Chapter Four) — how much it can keep in mind at once? In a marathon conversation, the early parts eventually scroll out of its memory. It's not rude; it's a short bed and a long quilt.
- The fix: start a fresh chat and open with a recap: "We were planning my daughter's visit — we'd settled on the first week of October and a rental car. Continuing from there…" Two sentences of recap buys you a brand-new full tank of attention.
- Big projects: one chat per topic — "Insurance appeal," "Trip planning" — instead of one endless chat for everything. Easier for it, easier for you to find later.
"It says I've hit my limit for today"
- That's the free tier's daily cap (Chapter Six), not an error. The meter resets after some hours — it tells you when.
- Options, in order: wait it out · switch to one of the other two free assistants for the rest of the day (perfectly legal, nobody's feelings get hurt) · or if you hit the wall twice in one week, you've outgrown free — the ~$20/month upgrade is Chapter Six's "you'll know when" moment.
"It's slow, stuck, or just spinning"
- Give it a minute — hard questions take longer; that's it thinking, not dying.
- Still stuck? Close the app completely and reopen it. (Swipe it away / quit, then tap it fresh.) This one move fixes half of everything in this chapter.
- Still stuck? It might be them, not you. Busy evenings get crowded — like channel 19 at rush hour. Try again in an hour, or take your question to one of the other two.
- Everything weird everywhere? Restart the phone. The oldest advice in computing, still undefeated.
"I lost a conversation I needed"
- It's almost never gone. Every chat is saved automatically. Look for the history list — the ☰ lines or clock icon, usually top-left corner — and scroll; your conversation is in there with a date on it.
- Found it? Pin or rename it (press and hold the chat in the list for options) so it never plays hide-and-seek again.
"I can't log in"
- Tap "Forgot password" — it's the front door, not the walk of shame. A reset link lands in your email; pick a new password; write it in the little book you keep by the desk. Two minutes.
- But never log in from a link someone sent you. "Your account has a problem, click here" emails are Chapter Eight wearing a customer-service costume. Go to the app or type the address yourself, always.
"It's acting different than it used to"
- The companies tune their machines regularly — new model years, same as Detroit (Chapter Four's "model"). Tone or habits can shift slightly after an update. Nothing's wrong.
- You can steer it back: "Give me shorter answers like you used to" works. So does telling it once how you like things — most assistants now remember standing preferences if you ask them to.
The whole chart in one line: wrong answer → "double-check that" · forgot → new chat + recap · limit → wait or switch · stuck → close and reopen · lost chat → history list · login → official reset only · acting new → tell it what you liked.