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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2808 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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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.

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