---
title: LLM escapades in a toilet
date: "2024-10-05T02:22:15Z"
lastmod: "2024-10-05T02:22:17Z"
categories:
  - funny
  - llms
wp_id: 3637
description: "Everyday travel frustrations like sink stoppers and accidental emergency buttons become solvable through LLMs and voice translation, showing how quickly AI slips into mundane problem-solving."
keywords: [travel, LLM assistance, voice translation, Korean, hotel bathroom, everyday AI]
---

![LLM escapades in a toilet](/blog/assets/image-88.webp)

I was in Seoul for [KHF 2024](https://en.khospital.org/), a healthcare event, staying at [Hotel in 9](https://www.hotelin9.com/). The hotel was great. The toilet was hi-tech.

Perhaps a bit too high-tech for me. I couldn't figure out how to let the water through on the sink.

![](/blog/assets/image-88-766x1024.webp)

After 15 minutes of a hard struggle, I finally asked [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/) **"How do I open the thing that's closing the sink to allow the water to go down?"**

Here's the thing with "maturity" (aka age, wisdom, experience, grey hair). It took me 15 minutes to realize I could use an LLM to solve this problem. Despite me supposedly being an "LLM psychologist." I suspect the school children of today won't waste even a minute before checking ChatGPT.

On the other hand, if you DO know the answer to my question (without asking an LLM -- since ChatGPT gave me the perfect answer at a glance), I bow down to your wisdom and experience!

> To open the sink drain in your image, you might have a pop-up drain stopper, which operates by pressing down on the stopper itself to toggle it between open and closed positions. Try pressing directly down on the stopper; it should click and either pop up or pop down, allowing water to drain. If this method does not work, there may be a lever or knob elsewhere on or near the faucet that controls the stopper's position.

---

Next, I accidentally pressed the emergency button in the toilet.

![](/blog/assets/image-89-765x1024.webp)

I was smarter this time, unlike earlier.

I asked ChatGPT which (unhelpfully) told me:

> The panel in the image with the label "EMERGENCY" appears to be an emergency call button in a bathroom, likely designed to alert someone in case of a medical or other urgent situation. Typically, these buttons cannot be turned off as they are meant to be always available for safety purposes.
>
> If the emergency system has been triggered accidentally or is malfunctioning, it is advisable to contact the maintenance team or property management to handle the issue. If it's a false alarm, they can reset the system and ensure it's functioning correctly for actual emergencies.

I called the reception who couldn't understand a word of what I said. "Do you want water?" they asked when I told them "I pressed the emergency button in the bathroom."

So, I went to [ChatGPT's advanced voice mode](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8400625-voice-mode-faq) (I'm so grateful it was enabled last week) and said, "Translate everything I say into Korean."

Then I said, “I accidentally pressed the emergency button in the bathroom. I just wanted to let you know that there is no emergency.”

It very happily spoke out, in bold, loud Korean, "화장실에서 응급버튼을 실수로 눌렀습니다. 비상상황이 아니라는 점 알려려 드립니다."

The receptionist laughed, said, "Ah, OK, no problem."

The joys of AI!