Comment by TOMDM

3 months ago

I'll be honest, I like the way Claude defaults to relentless positivity and affirmation. It is pleasant to talk to.

That said I also don't think the sycophancy in LLM's is a positive trend. I don't push back against it because it's not pleasant, I push back against it because I think the 24/7 "You're absolutely right!" machine is deeply unhealthy.

Some people are especially susceptible and get one shot by it, some people seem to get by just fine, but I doubt it's actually good for anyone.

6 comments

TOMDM

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jfoster  3 months ago

The sycophancy makes LLMs useless if you want to use them to help you understand the world objectively.

Equally bad is when they push an opinion strongly (usually on a controversial topic) without being able to justify it well.

endymi0n  3 months ago

I hate NOTHING quite the way how Claude jovially and endlessly raves about the 9/10 tasks it "succeeded" at after making them up, while conveniently forgetting to mention it completely and utterly failed at the main task I asked it to do.

  • dragonwriter  3 months ago

    That reminds me of the West Wing scene s2e12 "The Drop In" between Leo McGarry (White House Chief of Staff) and President Bartlet discussing a missile defense test:

    LEO [hands him some papers] I really think you should know...

    BARTLET Yes?

    LEO That nine out of ten criterion that the DOD lays down for success in these tests were met.

    BARTLET The tenth being?

    LEO They missed the target.

    BARTLET [with sarcasm] Damn!

    LEO Sir!

    BARTLET So close.

    LEO Mr. President.

    BARTLET That tenth one! See, if there were just nine...