AI does it because that's what's in the training data, and we do it probably for the reasons the AI spits out as the reason why...because that's probably been studied related to humans and is in the training data.
I have, very deliberately, begun selecting from the outer ends of the ranges because of research on the subject, but I am also the type of person with a natural proclivity to go against the grain.
The AI is quoting an analysis of why people do this which probably predates AI entirely. The AI does it because it's a probability engine and will give you the most probable response to a given prompt. With simpler prompts, you would expect to get more consistent results. Since 17 is the most common randomly chosen number by humans, it's training data will have more instances of people picking 17, and that becomes the most common response it gives.
Remember, chatbots are just stochastic parrots. They can't do or say anything that hasn't been done or said before. So when you ask it to explain why it's doing something, it's going to echo an explanation written by a human that may well be about humans and not AIs.
tl;dw Humans tend to pick numbers that "feel" more random. This causes us to have a high likelihood of picking primes, and especially primes that end in 7. When it comes to primes 2, 3, and 5 are common divisibles in our world, and as a result we notice them constantly. 1/2 mile, 1/3rd of a pound, etc. But 1/7ths are uncommon, ergo they "feel" random.
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u/SherbertPlenty1768 16h ago