It's not "genuine" when they say that every question is a "great question" and every thought is a "deep and profound observation."
As someone who actually likes to explore ideas and steal man myself on these chats, it's especially obnoxious because those types of comments do no favors in guiding you down good paths with subjects that you may be working on and learning.
Of course the average user likes getting their ego stroked. Looks like OpenAI will embrace the dopamine pumping style that pervades the digital realm.
SOLAR_FIELDS · 2h ago
I've had fun telling all these LLM's to act like Linus Torvalds and tear me down when I talk to them. Surprisingly effective
Fade_Dance · 2h ago
YOUR RESPONSE WAS LATE AND YOU MADE THE WORLD WORSE.
ComputerGuru · 12m ago
I mean, it’s not genuine regardless of how often or little it’s said because it is, literally and by definition, artificial praise. Which is harmful in any quantity.
minimaxir · 3h ago
OpenAI really does not want people using GPT-4o. The money presumably saved from GPT-5's routing must be very compelling.
webdevver · 2h ago
there appears to be two emerging major use cases/markets for LLMs:
- synthetic friend
- a tool that happens to be much faster than google/ctrl-f/man-pages/poking around github
perhaps offer GPT-5-worker and GPT-5-friend?
dangus · 10m ago
I don’t really think this is the gist of it.
What happened with GPT-5 is that the product changed abruptly and significantly.
I don’t think most people are looking to use ChatGPT as a virtual friend, but overnight the product changed from having a very friendly (yes perhaps almost too friendly) personality to being terse.
If the product was always like that or it slowly evolved into that it wouldn’t be a big deal.
pragmatic · 55m ago
- a tool that happens to be much slower than google/ctrl-f/man-pages/poking around github
nojs · 1h ago
Right, it seems like these two use cases are rapidly diverging.
tills13 · 39m ago
lol everyone saw this coming. People just want to be told that they are geniuses, all their ideas are great, they are funny, etc. It's literally a yes-man.
sdotdev · 3h ago
Make it stop saying "Nice - " at the start of every prompt that's annoying.
theodric · 3h ago
YMMV. I asked it for a list of something and it responded "I'm not in the habit of doing your homework, but here's a compact list[...]"
minimaxir · 3h ago
Does passive-aggression count as sycophancy?
myaccountonhn · 2h ago
Looking at the reactions to 4o being removed on reddit was... Sobering. The reason they toned it down was because they claimed the sycophantic behavior and the attachment some were growing weren't healthy. It was pathetic to see them not stand their ground when you at the same time see people develop these super unhealthy relationship to text generators.
BrawnyBadger53 · 23m ago
The alternative was likely that these people would move to platforms that actively prey on this instead. Imo it's good that they get people onto the newer model and help them bridge the way to healthier conversations. Though realistically, these people should just be using the personality tools and the default should be robotic so new people don't join the problem.
dangus · 7m ago
I don’t think it has anything to do with unhealthy attachment.
It has to do with an abrupt product change that was too different from the previous thing that everyone liked.
KoolKat23 · 1h ago
It pays the bills.
Simulacra · 3m ago
"Kinder, gentler machine gun hand"
delichon · 3h ago
I'd like a slider from sycophant to asshole please. And a checkbox to disable the zeroth law.
thrill · 2h ago
Sliders on all forms of false platitudes, so I can weld them to zero.
jhide · 2h ago
What does zeroth law mean in this context?
delichon · 1h ago
Asimov's Zeroth Law of Robotics: "A robot may not harm humanity, or by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm."
This is an addition to the other three laws embedded in positronic brains:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
To me the zeroth law echoes the paternalism built into LLMs, where they take on the role of shepherd rather than tool.
The other day I asked one a question, and didn't get an answer, but did get a lecture about how misleading the answer could be. I really don't want my encyclopedia to have an opinion about which facts I shouldn't know.
bitwize · 1h ago
The most annoyingly obsequious setting should be "Bubsy".
As someone who actually likes to explore ideas and steal man myself on these chats, it's especially obnoxious because those types of comments do no favors in guiding you down good paths with subjects that you may be working on and learning.
Of course the average user likes getting their ego stroked. Looks like OpenAI will embrace the dopamine pumping style that pervades the digital realm.
- synthetic friend
- a tool that happens to be much faster than google/ctrl-f/man-pages/poking around github
perhaps offer GPT-5-worker and GPT-5-friend?
What happened with GPT-5 is that the product changed abruptly and significantly.
I don’t think most people are looking to use ChatGPT as a virtual friend, but overnight the product changed from having a very friendly (yes perhaps almost too friendly) personality to being terse.
If the product was always like that or it slowly evolved into that it wouldn’t be a big deal.
It has to do with an abrupt product change that was too different from the previous thing that everyone liked.
This is an addition to the other three laws embedded in positronic brains:
To me the zeroth law echoes the paternalism built into LLMs, where they take on the role of shepherd rather than tool.The other day I asked one a question, and didn't get an answer, but did get a lecture about how misleading the answer could be. I really don't want my encyclopedia to have an opinion about which facts I shouldn't know.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=khciDV8XvpY&t=10m0s
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p3PfKf0ndik