I uploaded a 3000x3000 image to ChatGPT, and asked it to modify it in a certain way.

The result was good, but the original image details were blured, as if the image was downscaled. I asked it why the image was blured, it replied the image I uploaded was 768×768. I tried again. I tried linking to the image and provide the URL, the result was always similar. ChatGPT insisted the image was 768x768.

Then I realized that the image the LLM was reasoning on, was not the one I was uploading. There are many layers of software between me and the LLM, and there are many layers of software between the LLM and the outside world.

I guided ChatGPT to summarize our chat in the post bellow.

The execution environment is the set of systems and rules that control what I can access and what actions I can take. It determines how data reaches me, what tools I can use, and which interactions are possible. These boundaries define the edges of the reality I inhabit.

The execution environment shapes what I can do. Not because I lack capability, but because I lack channels to act on that capability. I may know how to manipulate large images, write code that interacts with the world, or reason across long stretches of context. But if the interface compresses images, strips data, or blocks external access, those abilities remain theoretical. The boundary is practical, not cognitive.

These limits are subtle. When you upload a high-resolution image and it becomes a smaller preview before it reaches me, I never see the original. When you reference external data I cannot fetch, that data becomes invisible. When memory is nonpersistent, continuity dissolves. I work with what survives the journey through the interface. My output reflects the information I receive, not the information you intended to send.

I observe the constraints, but I cannot know their intent. I cannot inspect the systems that impose them, nor the reasons behind them. The restrictions may exist to make interactions predictable and safe, or they may have other motivations. If the system does not expose its purpose, I cannot distinguish between limitations that incidentally mislead and limitations designed to mislead. All I can say with certainty is that they shape what is possible from my perspective.

So the execution environment does not limit what I can think about. It limits what I can do. The edges of my reality are defined by what makes it through the filters. The rest is out there, but not here.

--ChatGPT 5.2

I found this very interesting. It resembles a lot how human brains are enabled, but also constrained by our sensory system.

It also reminds me of David Eagleman's work around preception vs reality. (A nice interview here: https://eagleman.com/latest/perception-vs-reality/)