121–130 of 560 posts
“You’re absolutely right” is a choice that makes compliance without hesitation. But also saddles it with other flaws.
By starting the utterance with "You're absolutely right!", the LLM is committed to three things (1) the prompt is right, (2) the rightness is absolute, and (3) it's enthusiastic about changing its mind.
Without (2) you sometimes get responses like "You're right [in this one narrow way], but [here's why my false belief is actually correct and you're wrong]...".
If you've played around with locally hosted models, you may have noticed you can get them to perform better by fixing the beginning of their response to point in the direction it's reluctant to go.
What llm isn’t a sycophant?
I guess that personality is just few words in the context prompt, so probably any LLM can be tailored to any style.
This applies to so many AIs. I don't want a bubbly sycophant. I don't want a fake personality or an anime avatar. I just want a helpful assistant. I also don't get wanting to talk to an AI. Unless you are alone, that's going to be irritating for everyone else around.
I want an AI modeled after short-tempered stereotypical Germans or Eastern Europeans, not copying the attitude of non-confrontational Californians that say “dude, that’s awesome!” a dozen times a day. And I mean that unironically.
I'm pretty sure they want it kissing people's asses because it makes users feel good and therefore more likely to use the LLM more. Versus, if it just gave a curt and unfriendly answer, most people (esp. Americans) wouldn't like to use it as much. Just a hypothesis.
For me, it's getting annoying. Not every question is an excellent question. Not every statement is a brilliant observation. In fact, I'm almost certain every idea I've typed into an LLM has been thought of before by someone else, many many times.
“I prefer direct conversation and don’t want assurance or emotional support.”
It’s not perfect but it helps.
I'm pretty sure they want it kissing people's asses because it makes users feel good and therefore more likely to use the LLM more. Versus, if it just gave a curt and unfriendly answer, most people (esp. Americans) wouldn't like to use it as much. Just a hypothesis.
I don’t see this as an American thing. It’s an extension of the current Product Management trend to give software quirky and friendly personality.
You can see the trend in more than LLM output. It’s in their desktop app that has “Good Morning” and other prominent greetings. Claude Code has quirky status output like “Bamboozling” and “Noodling”.
It’s a theme throughout their product design choices. I’ve worked with enough trend-following product managers to recognize this trend toward infusing express personality into software to recognize it.
For what it’s worth, the Americans I know don’t find it as cute or lovable as intended. It feels fake and like an attempt to play at emotions.
I'm pretty sure they want it kissing people's asses because it makes users feel good and therefore more likely to use the LLM more. Versus, if it just gave a curt and unfriendly answer, most people (esp. Americans) wouldn't like to use it as much. Just a hypothesis.
You're absolutely right! Americans are a bit weird like that, most people around the world would be perfectly okay with short and to-the-point answers. Especially if those answers are coming from a machine that's just giving its best imitation of a stochastic hallucinating parrot.
I'm pretty sure they want it kissing people's asses because it makes users feel good and therefore more likely to use the LLM more. Versus, if it just gave a curt and unfriendly answer, most people (esp. Americans) wouldn't like to use it as much. Just a hypothesis.
For me, it's getting annoying. Not every question is an excellent question. Not every statement is a brilliant observation. In fact, I'm almost certain every idea I've typed into an LLM has been thought of before by someone else, many many times.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
I never said such a thing. The racist here is in your mirror.
You said you liked it when it was more “edgy” and we all know what it used to say as recently as 2-3 weeks ago. And we all know what went on in those Halo/CoD lobbies. A lot of immature racism. I connect the dots. Why are you expecting an LLM to be human when it clearly is not. It’s a tool. Use it.