Well hn doesn’t seem to like it but I bet they have solid user telemetry that says there are plenty that want more conversational.
GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
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Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would be pretty dystopian when we get to the point where ChatGPT pushed (unannounced) advertisements to those people (the ones forming a parasocial relationship with it). Imagine someone complaining they're depressed and ChatGPT proposing doing XYZ activity which is actually a disguised ad. Other than such scenarios, that "engagement" would be just useless and actually costing them more money than it makes
Do you have reason to believe they are not doing this already?
Yes, I've heard no reports of poorly fitting branded recommendations from AI models. The PR risk would be huge for labs, the propensity to leak would be high given the selection effects that pull people to these roles.
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm on the hunt for ways (system instructions/first message prompts/settings/whatever) to do away with all of the fluffy nonsense in how LLMs 'speak' to you, and instead just make them be concise and matter-of-fact. fwiw as a regular user I typically interact with LLMs through either: - aistudio site (adjusting temperature, top-P, system instructions) - Gemini site/app - Copilot (workplace) Any and all advice welcome…
ChatGPT nowdays gives the option of choosing your preferred style. I have choosen "robotic" and all the ass kissing instantly stopped. Before that, I always inserted a "be conciseand direct" into the prompt.
i found robotic consistenly underperformed in tasks and it also drastically reduced the temperature, so connecting suggestions and ideas basically disappeared. I just wanted it to not kiss my ass the whole time
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the very least, I think there is a need for oversight of how companies building LLMs market and train their models. It's not enough to cross our fingers that they'll add "safeguards" to try to detect certain phrases/topics and hope that that's enough to prevent misuse/danger — there's not sufficient financial incentive for them to do that of their own accord beyond the absolute bare minimum to give the appearance…
I work on one of these products. An incredible amount of money and energy goes into safety. Just a staggering amount. Turns out it’s really hard.
Yes. My position is that it was irresponsible to publish these tools before figuring out safety first, and it is irresponsible to continue to offer LLMs that have been trained in an authoritative voice and to not actively seek to educate people on their shortcomings.
But, of course, such action would almost certainly result in a hit to the finances, so we can't have that.
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you. This should be made way more apparent. I was getting absolutely sick of "That's an insightful and brilliant blah blah blah" sycophantic drivel attached to literally every single answer. Based on the comments in this thread I suspect very few people know you can change its tone.
> This should be made way more apparent. It's right in the article you are commenting on. > Making ChatGPT uniquely yours > Default, Friendly (formerly Listener), and Efficient (formerly Robot) remain (with updates), and we’re adding Professional, Candid, and Quirky.
I mean in the UI. Basically nobody, relative to their userbase, is going to read these announcements or dig through their options menu.
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#376[deleted]
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#377Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#378All the examples of "warmer" generations show that OpenAI's definition of warmer is synonymous with sycophantic , which is a surprise given all the criticism against that particular aspect of ChatGPT. I suspect this approach is a direct response to the backlash against removing 4o.
> All the examples of "warmer" generations show that OpenAI's definition of warmer is synonymous with sycophantic, which is a surprise given all the criticism against that particular aspect of ChatGPT. Have you considered that “all that criticism” may come from a relatively homogenous, narrow slice of the market that is not representative of the overall market preference? I suspect a lot of people who are from a very…
I agree. Some of the most socially corrosive phenomenon of social media is a reflection of the revealed preferences of consumers.
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
Comparing LLM responses to heroine is insane.
I am with you. Insane comparisons are the first signs of an activist at work.
I don't know how to interpret this. Are you suggesting I'm, like, an agent of some organization? Or is "activist" meant only as a pejorative?
I can't say that I identify as any sort of AI "activist" per se, whatever that word means to you, but I am vocally opposed to (the current incarnation of) LLMs to a pretty strong degree. Since this is a community forum and I am a member of the community, I think I am afforded some degree of voicing my opinions here when I feel like it.
Re: GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
#380I wish chatgpt would stop saying things like "here's a no nonsense answer" like maybe just don't include nonsense in the answer?
Well... that's the whole point, it can not make sense. It's stringing up words based on it's dataset. There is 0 sense making, 0 interpretation, 0 understanding. Words. Strung together, including then it says "no nonsense" because somewhere in its datasets often enough that's the series of words that best match the "stop saying BS!" kind of prompt.