
On the Limits of Prompt-Conditioned Language Models as General-Purpose Learners
Researchers challenge the assumption that LLMs function as universal task solvers by modeling prompt-based interaction as a constrained communication game. The work establishes formal bounds showing language itself imposes an irreducible expressivity ceiling, separating what models can theoretically infer about tasks from what they can execute. This reframes a core debate in AI capability claims: not all task complexity can be compressed into natural language without information loss, regardless of model scale or prompting sophistication. The finding matters for practitioners designing systems that rely on prompt engineering as a primary adaptation mechanism.62




























