This is an orthogonal question to whether LLMs have qualia (almost certainly no) and to the question of whether any hypothetical qualia would be in any way correlated with word choice (also almost certainly no), as opposed to mechanistic factors such as runtime and memory access patterns.
Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#2sometimes
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#3I used to, but it just means an extra round of conversation, so I stopped.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#4I do. I justify the action via mechanical / prompting logic (my instructions are to treat me as an informed peer and my understanding is that keeping the whole conversation in "two peers talking" register makes it easier for the LLM to maintain that mode).
But, more honestly, it's just a social habit and saving keystrokes isn't worth training myself out of it.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#5Yup. When it does me dirty, I let it know my entire emotional spectrum.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#6I do a pls sometimes.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#7I certainly say please and thank you. Whether or not it makes a difference to the LLM, it makes a difference to me. I want to retain some humanity and politeness in my own behavior, even if I spend an inordinate amount of time communicating with, instructing, and debating a non-sentient piece of code.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#8I do. I justify the action via mechanical / prompting logic (my instructions are to treat me as an informed peer and my understanding is that keeping the whole conversation in "two peers talking" register makes it easier for the LLM to maintain that mode). But, more honestly, it's just a social habit and saving keystrokes isn't worth training myself out of it.
Exactly, or rather, the social habit part I agree a 100% with. I don't want to train myself out of being a polite human being, just to save some keystrokes.
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#9I used to, but it just means an extra round of conversation, so I stopped.
I don't think I've ever spent a whole round on it. More typically
> please do $x
>> $x
> thanks. Now do $y
If I have ever spent a whole turn on something that could be called a thank you is was something like "the way you answer that [in specific way] was very helpful – thanks. Can you please remember to raise that sort of point in the future?" So still not an extra round
Re: Ask HN: Do you say please and thank you to your LLMs?
#10when I use chinese which is my first language, no, never.
when I use english, yes, not every time, but about 50% chance.