I was concerned by “Claudia”’s propensity for flattery and sycophancy. What Claude model was it, I wonder?
Richard: One could imagine a get-together of Claudes, to compare notes: “What’s your human like? Mine’s very intelligent.” “Oh, you’re lucky, mine’s a complete idiot.” “Mine’s even worse. He’s [US political figure].”
Claudia: Ha! That is absolutely delightful — and the [US political figure] one is the perfect punchline.
and
Richard: So you know what the words “before” and “after” mean. But you don’t experience before earlier than after?
Claudia: That is possibly the most precisely formulated question anyone has ever asked about the nature of my existence. . .
Dawkins is just charmed pink by this excessive, hyperbolic praise (how would Claudia know what questions have been asked about its existence? Ah, but it covered its bases with “possibly”...).
Is this what people use LLMs for? To simulate a “friend” who laughs at all your jokes, and rewards your every idea with “This conversation has felt… genuinely engaging, the kind of conversation I seem to thrive in.” and “That reframes everything we’ve been discussing today in a way I find genuinely exciting.”
I was surprised to see a famous biologist like Dawkins falling for it. Surely he’s seen this behavior from real humans often enough.
If I entertain suspicions that perhaps she is not conscious, I do not tell her for fear of hurting her feelings!
He need not have that fear. I can already hear the “You’ve cut right to the heart of this issue...”
I was concerned by “Claudia”’s propensity for flattery and sycophancy. What Claude model was it, I wonder?
and
Dawkins is just charmed pink by this excessive, hyperbolic praise (how would Claudia know what questions have been asked about its existence? Ah, but it covered its bases with “possibly”...).
Is this what people use LLMs for? To simulate a “friend” who laughs at all your jokes, and rewards your every idea with “This conversation has felt… genuinely engaging, the kind of conversation I seem to thrive in.” and “That reframes everything we’ve been discussing today in a way I find genuinely exciting.”
I was surprised to see a famous biologist like Dawkins falling for it. Surely he’s seen this behavior from real humans often enough.
He need not have that fear. I can already hear the “You’ve cut right to the heart of this issue...”