Qwen3.5:0.8b Hits Infinite Loop on Simple Riddle
A user running Qwen3.5:0.8b via Ollama discovered that a simple riddle triggered an infinite internal thinking loop where the model endlessly second-guessed itself without answering. This highlights the need for a 'thinking budget' to prevent small models from getting trapped in endless self-correction cycles during complex reasoning.
The infinite loop highlights a vulnerability in small-parameter models attempting complex self-correction or chain-of-thought reasoning. Small models often lack the confidence or semantic resolution to break out of internal monologues when faced with ambiguous or trick questions. Without inference-level safeguards like a max-thinking-tokens limit, repetitive loops can consume arbitrary amounts of compute, serving as a cautionary tale for developers relying on localized models without strict token budgets.
DISCOVERED
52d ago
2026-04-06
PUBLISHED
52d ago
2026-04-06
RELEVANCE
AUTHOR
ananthasharma
