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0 pointsZaoLahma6mo ago0 comments

I find the GPT-5 model having turned the friendliness way, way down. Topics that previously would have rendered long and (usefully) engaging conversations are now met with an "ok cool" kind of response.

I get it - we don't want LLMs to be reinforces of bad ideas, but sometimes you need a little positivity to get past a mental barrier and do something that you want to do, even if what you want to do logically doesn't make much sense.

An "ok cool" answer is PERFECT for me to decide not to code something stupid (and learn something useful), and instead go and play video games (and learn nothing).

0 comments

kuschku6mo ago

How would a "conversation" with an LLM influence what you decide to do, what you decide to code?

It's not like the attitude of your potato peeler is influencing how you cook dinner, so why is this tool so different for you?

peepee19826mo ago

I have two potato peelers. If the one I like better is in the dishwasher I am not peeling potatoes. If one of my children wants to join me when I'm already peeling potatoes, I'll give them the preferred one and use the other one myself.

But I will not start peeling potatoes with the worse one.

ascorbic6mo ago

And the moral of that story is to buy a three pack of Kuhn Rikon peelers.

1 more reply

steveklabnik6mo ago

I once had a refactoring that I wanted to do, but I was pretty sure it'd hit a lot of code and take a while. Some error handling in a web application.

I was able to ask Claude "hey, how many function signatures will this change" and "what would the most complex handler look like after this refactoring?" and "what would the simplest handler look like after this refactoring?"

That information helped contextualize what I was trying to intuit: is this a large job, or a small one? Is this going to make my code nicer, or not so much?

All of that info then went into the decision to do the refactoring.

the_af6mo ago

I think the person you're responding to is asking "how would the tone of the response influence you into doing/not doing something"?

Obviously the actual substance of the response matters, this is not under discussion.

But does it matter whether the LLM replies "ok, cool, this is what's going on [...]" vs "You are absolutely right! You are asking all the right questions, this is very insightful of you. Here's what we should do [...]"?

1 more reply

ZaoLahmaOP6mo ago

Might tell it "I want to do this stupid thing" and it goes "ok cool". Previously it would have gone "Oh really? Fantastic! How do you intend to solve x?" and off you go.

kuschku6mo ago

But why does this affect your own attitude?

Do the suggestions given by your phone's keyboard whenever you type something affect your attitude in the same way? If not, why is ChatGPT then affecting your attitude?

3 more replies

bt1a6mo ago

I have been using gpt-5 through the API a bit recently, and I somewhat felt this response behavior, but it's definitely confirming to hear this from another. It's much more willing (vs gpt-4*) to tell me im a stupid piece of shxt and to not do what im asking of the initial prompt

Aeolun6mo ago

> I get it - we don't want LLMs to be reinforces of bad ideas, but sometimes you need a little positivity to get past a mental barrier and do something that you want to do, even if what you want to do logically doesn't make much sense.

If you want ceaseless positivity you should try Claude. The only possible way it’ll be negative is if you ask it to be.

octo8886mo ago

This reads like a submarine ad lol. Especially the second paragraph

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

kuschku6mo ago

How would a "conversation" with an LLM influence what you decide to do, what you decide to code?

It's not like the attitude of your potato peeler is influencing how you cook dinner, so why is this tool so different for you?

peepee19826mo ago

But I will not start peeling potatoes with the worse one.

ascorbic6mo ago

And the moral of that story is to buy a three pack of Kuhn Rikon peelers.

1 more reply

steveklabnik6mo ago

I once had a refactoring that I wanted to do, but I was pretty sure it'd hit a lot of code and take a while. Some error handling in a web application.

That information helped contextualize what I was trying to intuit: is this a large job, or a small one? Is this going to make my code nicer, or not so much?

All of that info then went into the decision to do the refactoring.

the_af6mo ago

I think the person you're responding to is asking "how would the tone of the response influence you into doing/not doing something"?

Obviously the actual substance of the response matters, this is not under discussion.

1 more reply

ZaoLahmaOP6mo ago

Might tell it "I want to do this stupid thing" and it goes "ok cool". Previously it would have gone "Oh really? Fantastic! How do you intend to solve x?" and off you go.

kuschku6mo ago

But why does this affect your own attitude?

Do the suggestions given by your phone's keyboard whenever you type something affect your attitude in the same way? If not, why is ChatGPT then affecting your attitude?

3 more replies

bt1a6mo ago

Aeolun6mo ago

If you want ceaseless positivity you should try Claude. The only possible way it’ll be negative is if you ask it to be.

octo8886mo ago

This reads like a submarine ad lol. Especially the second paragraph

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse