Thread

"As a Language Model": Chat Template Switches LLM Self-Referential Voice

103 points · 110 comments · yu3zhou4

Izmaki · 1790508818 · focus · HN ↗
"As a Language Model..." is one of the beginnings of a sentence I hate the most from LLMs and is the reason why I support free (as in "Liberty"), local models. I'm well aware that it is not a doctor and cannot replace a real doctor with multiple years of experience, I don't need to waste braincell activity on reading that it "as a Language Model" cannot give a precise diagnosis and that I should ask a real doctor - all I want to know is if I what I experience justifies either A) ER, B) 3-4 weeks scheduled doctors appointment or C) two paracetamol and a nap.
I don't want "jailbroken" LLMs to commit crime. I want them to avoid having this vendor-specific "bloatware" all over the product I'm using.
1. Anduia · 1790510825 · focus · HN ↗
  Be careful there. LLMs may be good at identifying a condition based on a description of the symptoms, but they are much worse at recommending the correct course of action (getting it wrong half of the time).
  [0] <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04074-y" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04074-y
  1. Izmaki · 1790511173 · focus · HN ↗
    ...I know, which is why "as a Language Model and not a real doctor" is a pointless comment to start off with. It should simply not recommend treatment if it's not sure it is correct. I wouldn't blame it or anyone if they asked for help treating a stiff neck, and the LLM (or your neighbor or parent or spouse) suggested light exercises to help relieve it - and do not jump to the suspicion that you may have meningitis.
    As a Human, I do not need to know it is a Language Model.
    jester997 · 1790511552 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah it should just state thing it means. But then again, there’s psychological impacts on society that we must be careful. For instance, teenagers talking to AI. If the AI just talks, people already start to feel real connections to the seemingly human entity. Maybe it’s better to disclose the reality up front?
    Izmaki · 1790511932 · focus · HN ↗
    Would it be so bad that lonely people can have a real friend that they can bring everywhere they go and even share its passion with through vision and audio? We don't want destructive friends encouraging us to do bad things, but a real 'buddy', somebody who always has our best well-being in its interests?
    Would it matter if this digital friend is not a real human behind a computer screen, but a Language Model in a data center?
    I guess it falls into a similar category as buying "special performances to satisfy certain urges". It probably feels close to the real thing (I wouldn't know, I've never tried - promise! :P), but it's never the same as love.
    nvme0n1p1 · 1790513429 · focus · HN ↗
    > We don't want destructive friends encouraging us to do bad things, but a real 'buddy', somebody who always has our best well-being in its interests?
    GPUs are not people, and generated tokens can't have interest in a person's well-being. If you try to pretend otherwise, the results are not great. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/us/openai-chatgpt-suicide-lawsuit-invs-vis" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/us/openai-chatgpt-suicide-law...
    Izmaki · 1790514464 · focus · HN ↗
    That's almost a year ago. One LLM year is like 10 human years. They're a bit like dogs in that regard...
    I'm pretty sure you will be paid a large sum of money if you can make one of the frontier models urge you to commit suicide from normal interactions with it.
    nvme0n1p1 · 1790515689 · focus · HN ↗
    Ah yes, my favorite LLM fallacy. "You used the wrong model! The newest fanciest model is perfect and makes no mistakes, have you tried it yet?" Let's force all of society's most vulnerable people to pay extra $$$ to Sam Altman, then surely all our problems would be solved.
    It's just a convenient way to ignore the years of evidence of the harms. Any bad news can be swept under the rug, labeled outdated as quickly as it happens. Well here's one that just happened, maybe this kid should have used a fancier model too? Should OpenAI pay him a large sum of money for the good he's done? <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/15/us/arjun-aravind-massachusetts-killing-chatgpt-hnk" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/15/us/arjun-aravind-massachusett...
    Izmaki · 1790526036 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm not sure if you're trying to conclude that because a piece of technology was misused previously in a very bad way, that it will never be able to do good things because surely it was bad previously.
    Reminds me of the 2000's crazy of "if you let kids play violent video games they will become unstable, violent psychopaths when they grow up". Thank God I was able to (rather easily) convince my mom that the idea that I would also steal a car and beat somebody to death with a golf club in real life just because that's what I did in GTA on my PlayStation, was completely absurd.
    nvme0n1p1 · 1790530897 · focus · HN ↗
    The difference is
    1. there weren't numerous real-life killings where the murderer credits GTA for coaching them through the crime
    2. Rockstar Games didn't publicly say "sorry about the murders, but don't worry, we'll add more safeguards to GTA 6 to prevent even more people dying. GTA 6 will be the most aligned GTA ever!"
    When a company admits to having blood on its hands, is maybe the point where things stop being "absurd" and start becoming real. But hey, what do I know. Maybe if HN existed in 2005 you'd have people commenting "who needs real people when we have computers, would it be so bad if lonely people have GTA as their only friend?" And I'd be the crazy one for engaging with them.

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