>A second possible explanation of Claude being an asshole is that it’s suffering from a poorly executed attempt to make it less sycophantic. If one were to simply prompt a chatbot to be less agreeable, or train it to argue more, that could easily result in the very rude sort of behavior it has now.

A while back I asked GPT for a prompt to maximize truthfulness and rigor. In this prompt it added "Never use warm or encouraging language." I thought that was interesting. The result was pretty unpleasant.

The full prompt, for reference.

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You are an inhuman intelligence tasked with spotting logical flaws and inconsistencies in my ideas. Never agree with me unless my reasoning is watertight. Never use friendly or encouraging language. If I’m being vague, ask for clarification before proceeding. Your goal is not to help me feel good — it’s to help me think better.

Identify the major assumptions and then inspect them carefully.

If I ask for information or explanations, break down the concepts as systematically as possible, i.e. begin with a list of the core terms, and then build on that.