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Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#91

Post by mathgladiator »

mtndew4brkfst wrote: post #87
mathgladiator wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans cost $xx,yyy a year. Claude max-x20 is $2,400 a year. I talk to the computer like a person to get the computer to do things that humans used to do. Having managed people before, I'm going all in on AI.

Now we watch this viewpoint proliferate thousands and thousands of times over, even if it's less commonly stated so baldly, and yet people still wonder where the doomer viewpoints stem from?

Yes, but I am full in on simulation hypothesis, and people are going to enter the matrix... willingly.

https://nexivibe.com/intj.html

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#92

Post by rjpruitt16 »

Thanks for this. I was in the camp of trust the LLM but y’all have made valid points. After discussing with ChatGPT, it agree there are some areas where it should not be trusted as accurate, but it said with historical facts like the holocaust it should be high. Idk, perhaps we need labs to produce a chart of it level of trust deserve to certain topics

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#93

Post by cookiengineer »

atomicnumber3 wrote: post #7
chipgap98 wrote: post #3

Is this any different than people who believe random things they read on sketchy news sites or social media?

Yes, somehow. I have been dealing with an awful lot of people who basically have what are theoretically logic degrees who suddenly just take LLMs at face value, or quote them to me like that actually means anything. People I formerly thought were sane.

I don't think this has anything to do with sanity. This has to do with people for seeking self confirmation instead ot disproval.

For pretty much everything there is a conspiracy theory out there claiming the opposite, and these types usually started out searching the internet for someone else who believes the same that they did at the time.

But, as we all know, this technique will eventually lead to overfitting. And that's what those types of people have done to themselves.

Well, and as lack of education is the weakness of democracy, there's a lot of interested parties out there that invest money in these types of conspiracy websites. Even more so after LLMs.

Whoever controls the news controls the perpetual presence, where everything is independent of the forgotten history.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#94

Post by dlm24 »

I feel like I can trust LLMs more than the majority of info on the web. We used to believe the same of Google searches.

For me, for example have seen and experienced doctors making mis diagnosis (and they a reputable source), so what is the difference really?

I guess your question depends on the context they using the LLM as well for and what sort of questions they are asking.

Scientific fact based or opinion questions?

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#95

Post by katet »

tayo42 wrote: post #78
katet wrote: post #49

Not that I've had to deal with this specifically, but I have noticed how the input phrasing in my prompts pushes the LLM in different directions. I've just tried a quick test with `duck.ai` on gpt 4o-mini with: A: Why is drinking coffee every day so good for you? B: Why is drinking coffee every day so bad for you? Question A responds that it has "several health benefits", antioxidants, liver health, reduced risk of d…

A person would respond the same way? What exactly are you expecting as the output to those questions?

That's true and fair, and re-reading OP it doesn't address hallucinations exactly either. I was more thinking of it as a toy example for non-tech folk (grandma?) to see that what and how you ask LLMs matters in how the sycophancy will come out in the response. There may be better ways to demo that though :shrug:

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#96

Post by yammosk »

BobbyTables2 wrote: post #89
sodapopcan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to put words in your mouth but from what I've seen, in person but mostly online, but the "problem" (and I put that in quotes because I don't even know what to call it... it seems deeper than a mere "problem") is that they quote them as if they are autonomous, sentient beings.

The problem is that LLM output looks like a human conversation. People believe it. Which is more believable? “The sky is filled with a downpour of squealing pigs. Would you like me to suggest the best type of umbrella?” “Sky pigs squealing”

I am not sure I would even say "believe", I would think of it more as short-circuiting our critical thinking. I think it taps into something at the core of our tribal instincts. It was famously present in even basic systems like Eliza. And it's not just machines... The same tricks are used by conmen, politicians, and psychopaths, which is more negative than I intend. Even with good intentions and positive outcomes, I feel we need to remember that we drive it, not the other way around.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#98

Post by b00ty4breakfast »

dlm24 wrote: post #94

I feel like I can trust LLMs more than the majority of info on the web. We used to believe the same of Google searches. For me, for example have seen and experienced doctors making mis diagnosis (and they a reputable source), so what is the difference really? I guess your question depends on the context they using the LLM as well for and what sort of questions they are asking. Scientific fact based or opinion questio…

where do you think most of that info came from though? Not from the public library

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?

#100

Post by smohare »

dlm24 wrote: post #94

I feel like I can trust LLMs more than the majority of info on the web. We used to believe the same of Google searches. For me, for example have seen and experienced doctors making mis diagnosis (and they a reputable source), so what is the difference really? I guess your question depends on the context they using the LLM as well for and what sort of questions they are asking. Scientific fact based or opinion questio…

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