I've been reading about what really helped people who had problems with "AI Psychosis" and one tip jumped out at me:

Open a second window and tell it exactly the opposite of each thing you say.

This helps to expose the sycophancy and shatters the illusion of sincerity and humanity.

Thought it was worth sharing. And frankly, it's exactly such an exercise that made me disgusted with the tech. "It just says ANYTHING is wonderful and genius. I'm not special."

@futurebird Surely this means the person doing the questions needs enough critical thinking, and not too much self-centeredness, to understand what the opposite is to their question though?

I don't think these people actually *want* to know. Time and time again people challenged on their beliefs will hold onto them stronger.

@futurebird That reminds me of a situation I had a couple of months ago. I have a childhood friend, who was my best friend for a long long time, but we kind of drifted apart after he moved cities. Nevertheless we at least congratulate each other on birthdays and write back and forth to talk about our lifes a bit.

The last time I wrote to him we exchanged our personal problems and feelings. I offered him that he can always write to me if he needs someone to talk to, but he dismissed it by saying that it's fine and that he has an AI which he uses for that. I got to be honest: That kind of hurt me since I sincerely wanted to help with his emotional burden and I felt like I just got pushed aside.

Sorry, had to think about that and I felt like I needed to let that out.

I've been reading about what really helped people who had problems with "AI Psychosis" and one tip jumped out at me:

Open a second window and tell it exactly the opposite of each thing you say.

This helps to expose the sycophancy and shatters the illusion of sincerity and humanity.

Thought it was worth sharing. And frankly, it's exactly such an exercise that made me disgusted with the tech. "It just says ANYTHING is wonderful and genius. I'm not special."

@futurebird

Why do folks need to be told to be weary of a sycophantic nonsense from a machine?
Would the same folk be accepting sycophantic nonsense from a human?

@flamecat

That would hurt my feelings so much. And it's very likely I think he might not realize how hurtful it is or why.

"I don't want to bother you with my little stuff." That is how he could see it.

@futurebird Exactly. I'm pretty sure that is the reason. The thing is I don't care about how small his problems would have been. I would have listened regardless. That's what a good friend does.

Fuck, now thinking about this whole situation just made me cry.

@n_dimension

I don't think it's the "sycophantic nonsense" that is the real issue. It's just the means by which people are convinced they have "someone who is there for me" or "I've asked someone if my idea is good" when they have no one. There is no person. They are still alone.

Even if the LLM were taciturn and critical if it becomes a substitution for human contact *that* is the problem. Because your acerbic friend will come to your house when you are sick to help you and the LLM cannot.

@n_dimension

I don't think it's the "sycophantic nonsense" that is the real issue. It's just the means by which people are convinced they have "someone who is there for me" or "I've asked someone if my idea is good" when they have no one. There is no person. They are still alone.

Even if the LLM were taciturn and critical if it becomes a substitution for human contact *that* is the problem. Because your acerbic friend will come to your house when you are sick to help you and the LLM cannot.

@futurebird @n_dimension Isn’t this thread full if human sycopanthic responses? Are human responses are always superior? We are selfish, idiotic, heavily biased meat clumps..