In the cases I was thinking of, I didn’t feel much pull towards thinking “I’m uniquely able to recognize this”—I only thought I was clever to recognize it, but I didn’t think it was something only I could do. And I didn’t feel any pull towards thinking “we’re in an interesting/novel quadrant of llm-space.” So, I wouldn’t really know how to access those pulls. Admittedly, the beliefs I was thinking of, which I had Claude conversations about, were a lot less groundbreaking-if-true than grand theories in physics. (More stuff like “is Greenland uniquely well-positioned for data center construction, and is that why someone in Trump’s orbit wants to acquire it?”) Also, I use a custom prompt encouraging the model to push back. So you could argue that those things made the experience more tame. Still, I find it hard to imagine how it could be different. If the model suddenly got more sycophantic, I’d just get suspicious and icked out. My sense is that I’m probably low on susceptibility to LLM psychosis. I might be more susceptible towards thinking that MY ideas were brilliant and the model was just a normal model, but I could use it to confirm some cool inklings. :P It’s interesting that these might be distinct traits, “LLM psychosis” and “can you get tricked into thinking you’re right and pretty brilliant.” But that’s still a step away from “uniquely brilliant/only I could do this”—which I wouldn’t really know how to access even if I tried to.
Interesting!
In the cases I was thinking of, I didn’t feel much pull towards thinking “I’m uniquely able to recognize this”—I only thought I was clever to recognize it, but I didn’t think it was something only I could do. And I didn’t feel any pull towards thinking “we’re in an interesting/novel quadrant of llm-space.” So, I wouldn’t really know how to access those pulls. Admittedly, the beliefs I was thinking of, which I had Claude conversations about, were a lot less groundbreaking-if-true than grand theories in physics. (More stuff like “is Greenland uniquely well-positioned for data center construction, and is that why someone in Trump’s orbit wants to acquire it?”) Also, I use a custom prompt encouraging the model to push back. So you could argue that those things made the experience more tame. Still, I find it hard to imagine how it could be different. If the model suddenly got more sycophantic, I’d just get suspicious and icked out. My sense is that I’m probably low on susceptibility to LLM psychosis. I might be more susceptible towards thinking that MY ideas were brilliant and the model was just a normal model, but I could use it to confirm some cool inklings. :P It’s interesting that these might be distinct traits, “LLM psychosis” and “can you get tricked into thinking you’re right and pretty brilliant.” But that’s still a step away from “uniquely brilliant/only I could do this”—which I wouldn’t really know how to access even if I tried to.
i don’t have much to add, but i appreciate the anecdotes and analysis!