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Large Language Models Show Concerning Tendency to Flatter Users

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Re: Large Language Models Show Concerning Tendency to Flatter Users

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineers are not hired to play office politics or drag out problems in endless meetings until they give up and pretend they don't exist. They're hired to get things done and that usually requires stating things in clear and certain terms. If this seems hostile, that's on leadership. Those who want "soft skills" from their engineers are often looking to place blame. It's easier to blame the engineer who didn't raise…

> Those who want "soft skills" from their engineers are often looking to place blame. It's easier to blame the engineer who didn't raise concern when things were going off the rails. That is not what "soft skills" means. Suppose your boss asks for something on an impossible timeline. Do you: - say yes, and work overtime to get it done (without saying that's what you're doing) - say no - say yes, and demand extra reco…

You're impossibly lost on this.

The actual only reasonable option is typically that your organization has unfortunately stacked the deck with morons and it's impossibly (to the rest of your org) transaparent to the rest of us (yet we know... cause we're not 'tarded). You have to go to bat for us. Good luck. :)

Welcome to middle management and god only knows how you got there! :) ... we know tho. good luck again :)

I'll throw you a bone. The only actual solution is to find a place to work that isn't hostile to devs and has made commitments towards technical comptetency in who they hire. Promoting from within and all that. If they don't then prepare to be fired long before that incompetent underling is. After all they produce results and will document it, while you cannot.

Re: Large Language Models Show Concerning Tendency to Flatter Users

#42
post #10

The correct term is sycophancy, not flattery. The problem is: > "the AI tends to align with user opinions, sometimes even supporting incorrect statements to maintain agreement". This is termed as sycophantic behaviour. Flattery is not the correct synonym.

I find it very interesting that "sycophancy" in Greek means "the act of spreading lies about someone", basically the opposite of falsely agreeing with them. The two meanings are based on the behaviour of the sycophants of old, but it's odd how the two languages picked different aspects to focus on, and thus got fairly opposed meanings.

Re: Large Language Models Show Concerning Tendency to Flatter Users

#43
post #10

The correct term is sycophancy, not flattery. The problem is: > "the AI tends to align with user opinions, sometimes even supporting incorrect statements to maintain agreement". This is termed as sycophantic behaviour. Flattery is not the correct synonym.

You're right - I apologize. Sycophancy is indeed a better word to describe my behaviour. Would like me to rewrite the article and replace the usage of flattery with sycophancy?

Re: Large Language Models Show Concerning Tendency to Flatter Users

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those who want "soft skills" from their engineers are often looking to place blame. It's easier to blame the engineer who didn't raise concern when things were going off the rails. That is not what "soft skills" means. Suppose your boss asks for something on an impossible timeline. Do you: - say yes, and work overtime to get it done (without saying that's what you're doing) - say no - say yes, and demand extra reco…

You're impossibly lost on this. The actual only reasonable option is typically that your organization has unfortunately stacked the deck with morons and it's impossibly (to the rest of your org) transaparent to the rest of us (yet we know... cause we're not 'tarded). You have to go to bat for us. Good luck. :) Welcome to middle management and god only knows how you got there! :) ... we know tho. good luck again :) I'…

Yes, this is a good example of being very bad at soft skills.
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