{
  "id": 5717127,
  "title": "I told the model to separate fields with <TAB>. It did exactly that, and I lost 79 percent of my data.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/i-told-the-model-to-separate-fields-with-tab-it-did-exactly-that-and",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-05T04:42:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/rickeshtn/i-told-the-model-to-separate-fields-with-it-did-exactly-that-and-i-lost-79-percent-of-my-ip2"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The model misinterpreted tab characters as literal characters due to a prompt error. Out of 310 records, 246 were discarded, with only 5 due to the intended verification mechanism. The issue was not a complex parser, but a shared counter for unparseable and ungrounded data. To address this, the writer showed a worked example using a pipe character, which significantly improved performance. Additionally, they introduced a flag that outputs raw model replies and breakdowns, allowing for immediate detection of issues.",
  "summary": "My extraction prompt said: Output lines of the form <key><TAB><value> The model output: Elizabeth<TAB>I have not the pleasure of understanding you Those are five literal characters — angle bracket, T, A, B, angle bracket — not a tab. My parser looked for \\t , found none, and dropped the line. Across one document, 246 of 310 records were discarded . Only 5 were dropped for the reason the mechanism…",
  "key_points": [
    "Model misinterpreted tab characters as literal data",
    "79% of 310 records lost due to prompt error",
    "Pipe character and flag introduced to improve performance"
  ],
  "editors_take": "A flawed prompt that led to misinterpretation of formatting characters highlights the need for robust verification mechanisms and transparent model output to prevent data loss.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}