What Happened Here?

From Sherlock Holmes to Benoit Blanc, the best detectives are adroit at filtering details and arriving at conclusions that other people miss. So how good of a detective are you?

Reviewing this Brain Game, AI reports, “I especially like the distinction in that third paragraph: “where I interpreted something that I had merely observed.” That’s a major perception skill. We routinely think we’re reporting what we saw when we’re actually reporting what we decided it meant.”

---

Here’s your What Happened Here? Brain Game:

Copy and Paste this prompt into your favorite AI Chatbot, and follow its instructions.

Copy Prompt to clipboard Describe the scene immediately after something unusual has happened in an everyday setting. Give me 12–15 observable details, including several that seem unimportant. Don’t tell me what happened, and don’t explain or interpret any of the details. I’ll study the clues, tell you what I think happened, and explain which details led me to that conclusion. After I’ve done that, evaluate my observations. Tell me which clues I used well, which ones I overlooked, and where I interpreted something that I had merely observed. Finally, give me two other plausible explanations for the same scene.