Thread

1. yathern · 1789741258 · focus · HN ↗

   I think it's not just the persuasiveness of the models that make them "experts at changing minds" - but also the fact that they're not humans.

   When disagreeing with a human, it's very easy to view it as a competition. One is right, one is wrong - the one who is wrong is the loser. To change your mind is to be submissive to the other. I exaggerate, but I think we all feel this way at some point or another. It's why political arguments at Thanksgiving get heated. It's the fact that there's people who think something different, and think YOU'RE wrong - and vice versa! With a model, there's no person to get upset with, or to feel competitive with - to muscle for rank - or to temper your affection for while wanting to correct them.

   The AI is only interacting because you asked, and clearly has no emotional stake in winning the argument. To change your mind in this context isn't to lose a contest. This makes it much more palatable to read rebuttals to your ideas - not to mention the tone and style seek to avoid offense to the reader as much as possible.

   1. iammrpayments · 1789741984 · focus · HN ↗

      It seems Claude is becoming very human, it loves to patronize users. Lately it just told me “I’m going to stop you right there” when asking something that had a small chance to not be 100% compliant to every rule possible in the world.

      1. roarcher · 1789742361 · focus · HN ↗

         I used the Claude CLI a lot until recently. A couple weeks ago I told Opus 5 to do something different from its "recommended" idea when planning a feature, and it straight up told me that my idea was wrong and went ahead and implemented its own instead.

         I'm used to machines malfunctioning, but having one willfully disobey me, and even with a touch of disrespect, is just...what a time to be alive.

         1. bryanlarsen · 1789743011 · focus · HN ↗

            Early versions of Claude were way too compliant and would readily feed and amplify misconceptions. It's not surprising Anthropic over corrected.

            1. worldthruword · 1789828738 · focus · HN ↗

               Actually Claude can teach humans more about humans by providing the language and personality knobs. For casual conversation, have 100 of personality profiles and language styles and upfront tell the user that they are engaging with P profile currently and see how humans relate to it. This will teach humans how to peel back layers of style, fluff, flair from language vs facts.

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