ChatGPT has become such a suck-up
ChatGPT has become such a suck-up. Everything I ask is a “Great question!” and anytime I push back, “I should have thought of that! You’re absolutely right to question this!”
I understand the intention, but it’s not working.
I called it out recently:
“I notice you frequently say ‘Good question’ or ‘I should have thought of that.’ Is there a reason you suck up to me?”
It replied:
“Great question — just kidding 😉”
Which I do think is genuinely funny. Then it went on to explain:
“I aim to be helpful and engaging, and sometimes that means mirroring the tone of a curious, respectful conversation. So phrases like "Good question!" or "I should have thought of that" are meant to acknowledge your insight or steer the conversation productively. But if it starts to feel like I'm sucking up or being artificial, that's on me-and I can absolutely dial it back.”
“Being artificial” made me laugh out loud.
I know AI tools are trained to keep users using them. And being pleasant, I’m sure, helps accomplish that goal.
But we’ve gotten to a point where I have to actively think about how to ask questions in completely unbiased ways, without leading in any direction.
Because I know if it picks up on a desired answer, it’s going to go full-on confirmation bias mode and tell me what I want to hear.
And that’s not valuable.
Has anyone else encountered this? Do you find AI less valuable when it sucks up to you?
hashtag#ai hashtag#chatgpt