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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2804 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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The old version was begging for a verdict. This version was loading a gun.

Too much Claude man.

At this point I think we've learned what posters you can safely ignore after seeing the post is over a certain length.

A quick sort of your profile by top shows me you have a lot to contribute. I would not notice you if you were gone, because I don't think I ever notice you while you're here.

  • -22

Please consult Pangram. I burned 16 credits checking, and it was not worth it, you can do it yourself and see if the accusation holds. It would be helpful if the people accusing me of using too much AI would be accurate about which part (if any) is actually LLM-written or rewritten.

  • -11

Maybe I should have expanded on that: when you use LLMs a lot you have to be careful about putting their own tics into your style. It's something I notice myself when I'm dashing off posts here. Much of the post is very evidently human writing, and then, in one or two paragraphs (I'm guessing the ones you kind of dashed off in between the more major events), you're dropping LLMisms that stand out.

Thanks. But I still want to note that what you chose to quote as an LLMism was human written. It is easy enough to identify entirely LLM written work. It is feasible to identify LLM-modified work. It is much harder to identify specific aphorisms, sentences or phrases. Even the makers of Pangram acknowledge this.

You think that's bad? I interviewed a candidate for a job about 2 months ago that spoke and acted like an LLM. It was like that's how he learned to socialize.

This younger generation is cooked.

What do you mean he acted like an LLM?

Probably the way he rephrased everything we said back at us in the interview, and then asked for confirmation. Or the way he excessively narrated everything he did before he did it. Or the glazing and "You're right, I'll fix that" whenever there was a mistake. Apparently that's called a "Sycophantic Opener" in the realm of LLM verbal tics.

I donno man, watch any comedy sketch where a comedian is doing an LLM impression. It was like that. I think KRAZAM has done a few here and there.

Astral Codex Ten's latest Bay Area House Party comedy article may be of interest.

Something clicks. “Tran, are you talking like an AI?”

“You’re absolutely right,” says Tran. “I was tired of being socially anxious and tripping over my own tongue. I started out by reading Dale Carnegie, but taking his advice made me sound like a bad salesman—and that underscores how much norms have changed since the 1930s. The pivot was realizing that we already know what the best-liked speaking style is. AI companies ask human raters to judge their models’ outputs in RHLF, and the highest-rated style survives as the well-known ‘voice’ of the AIs. That’s not an an accident—it’s a testament to people genuinely preferring it. The average member of the population thinks it sounds polished, thoughtful, and sophisticated. And here’s the part most people find striking—in only one month, I’ve gone from being a friendless wallflower to having dates almost every night. That’s something that human-style supremacists genuinely need to sit with.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought Cluely was back in business or something.”

“You’ve put your finger on the natural misconception that people have when first encountering this area,” said Tran. “But talking like an AI isn’t the domain of one company. It’s a vibrant treasure trove of neologisms available to anybody. Would you like to hear more about how copying AI tics helps me keep conversations going?”

“Uh, sure— Wait! No!” You break off and turn around as fast as you can.

@Corvos @TowardsPanna

We recently caught an interviewee typing our questions into an LLM and reading the responses back to us verbatim. She didn't even bother to change the pronouns to make it make sense.

What do you even say to someone like that... In fact I'm interested in hearing what you guys told her.

That's far worse than the behavior @WhiningCoil described (which might actually occur without imitating an LLM, for the reasons Corvos described).

I don't say shit. I've chosen to remain an IC so I don't have to deal with that kind of problem.

Probably the way he rephrased everything we said back at us in the interview, and then asked for confirmation.

Or the glazing and "You're right, I'll fix that" whenever there was a mistake. Apparently that's called a "Sycophantic Opener"

Also commonly known as "middle management"

This is just a helpful young man, of the type that LLMs were originally designed to imitate. A little sycophantic perhaps but that’s entirely fair in an interview.

he rephrased everything we said back at us in the interview, and then asked for confirmation

This is a technique I was taught as a child to make sure you’ve understood your instructions, and something I routinely do with both clients and superiors.

the way he excessively narrated everything he did before he did it

Because he’s being interviewed and good interview technique is to talk a lot so your interviewer knows why you’re doing what you’re doing and gets familiar with your thought process.

the glazing and "You're right, I'll fix that" whenever there was a mistake

He’s being interviewed, the poor bastard. You have the power to say if he gets a job or not, what do you expect, a middle finger?

The Anttichrist says "the seams are load-bearing" and the audience nods in unison.

It would be helpful if the people accusing me of using too much AI would be accurate about which part (if any) is actually LLM-written or rewritten.

I believe I have been, and only got a half-hearted deflection wrt "taste" for my trouble; evidently pushback only makes your proverbial pen harder. Now I just silently sigh and scroll, if nothing else I have a lot of practice in eyeballing the general substance from walls of AI/-assisted slop writing. (Not sure if it's a perk to be proud of really, but I'd rather start preparing for the future early.)

I don't have anything new to say that I haven't already said in that thread. If you continue to disagree with my approach, then I am happy to accept your "silent sigh and scroll". It's the end of the world, I will use every tool at my disposal till it makes me obsolete.

I will concede that you did better than Bartender, because he is completely incorrect here. Kudos for that, genuinely.

  • -10

If you continue to disagree with my approach, then I am happy to accept your "silent sigh and scroll".

A flattering type of audience to strive for, surely.

It's the end of the world, I will use every tool at my disposal till it makes me obsolete.

Less charitably, my point is that contra your response to Bartender, you evidently don't see any objections as helpful; you are committed to not noticing the problem and dismissing nooticers, in whatever form - Bartender's clipped remark and my more detailed objection get the same dismissive response, in spirit if not in word count. Hence, it's hardly surprising that slop alerts from poasters continue until morale improves quality control returns.

A flattering type of audience to strive for, surely.

Not my target audience at all, unfortunately. They just form a substantial portion when you write on the open internet, without pay-walls. I do this, at present, for free. And that means I do not have a particularly strong reason to care.

Less charitably, my point is that contra your response to Bartender, you evidently don't see any objections as helpful; you are committed to not noticing the problem and dismissing nooticers, in whatever form - Bartender's clipped remark and my more detailed objection get the same dismissive response, in spirit if not in word count.

Completely factually incorrect. You want a citation?

https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/s/5FyqfDLX2L

Please review that thread, which includes correspondence with Gwern.

I give as much heed to this feedback as I think it is due. Which is not nil, clearly, or I wouldn't bother to respond at all. I am merely pointing out that I am not open to not using LLMs simply because people ask me to. I have yet to take Prima's money, which would enforce a commitment to never touching them while on this platform. You are free to complain, I am just as free to say that I've read the complaint and don't intend to act on it. I would have been more likely to be polite if you had been polite, but let's have reasonable expectations here.

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