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After spending way too much time with Fable a few days ago, I noticed a new hallmark of AI generated text is using the word "honest" everywhere, in a somewhat s
by lopatin 2mo ago
After spending way too much time with Fable a few days ago, I noticed a new hallmark of AI generated text is using the word "honest" everywhere, in a somewhat self congratulating way.
Some things that give it away to me:
- "Honest numbers (WSL2, 12 cores, 25 GB RAM, NVMe via VHDX)"
- "an honest peak projection (working set, KV, MTP row, reconstruction buffers) so the kernel OOM-killer never fires."
- "Honest caveat from the same measurement: ..."
It's the new "It's not X, it's Y". I have no issue with this, I just found it amusing.
Cool project btw!
- rhdunn 2mo agoIt's not goblins, it's honest!
- LoganDark 2mo agoIt's as if it's sucking up to me or apologizing at every turn, even when it's done exactly what I've asked. Seems related to sycophancy, but different? (i.e. rather than unconditionally affirming the user it's unconditionally expecting to disappoint)
- FeepingCreature 2mo agoI suspect it's a signature of anti-fabrication training.
- lukaslalinsky 2mo agoThat was their headline for Opus 4.8, I guess the invested into some post-training to get them to write this, and I like it, it's a great way to identify AI posts from Claude. https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-8 https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-8
- jannyfer 2mo agoYup, and I had seen it in the Opus 4.5 soul document as well: https://gist.github.com/Richard-Weiss/efe157692991535403bd7e7fb20b6695#being-honest https://gist.github.com/Richard-Weiss/efe157692991535403bd7e... In the future, I expect different models from different firms behaving differently will become as obviously normal as different humans behaving differently. Those of us that have used agents a lot have already noticed this, but the general public still seems to consider AI to be plug-and-play. The Opus 4.8 infatuation with being honest genuinely drove me nuts (honest take). The constant need for me to decipher and decide on something after its final message was tiring too. GPT-5.6-Sol is refreshing that its replies start with "understood." instead of flattering me for my steering prompt. Now ... after a few weeks, will I get suck of "understood"? I dunno :)
- abe94 2mo agoI've been seeing a lot of usage of the word `real` from recent fable sessions: - That gap is the real story: 3,873 flows - the real conversion filter types are: - I'll update the breakdown query to include a column for each real type
- badatnames 2mo agoI have almost completely stopped writing real in my own output as a direct consequence of this. Maybe next year they'll catch up with my alternative wordings and I'll end up switching back
- lukas9 2mo agoThis is what I've noticed lately. I write articles and over the past year or two I had to stop using specific words or change my writing style a bit many times, because people kept asking if it was AI. It just makes me sad when I show someone my work and the first thing they say is "Is this AI"?
- fibonachos 2mo agoI’ve started learning into the various AI-isms in my prompts. Most recently, em dashes to chain related information in a single sentence. “Something something main point — but also pay attention to this related thing — finish main point.” Anecdotally, it seems to produce more consistent results when I “speak its language”. On the output side, I’ve become much more aggressive about trimming and editing any prose it produces that I intend on sharing. Both for my own benefit to improve comprehension, but also because dumping the raw, verbose output on my colleagues feels lazy and disrespectful of their time.
- taneq 2mo agoSo you’re code switching to incorporate AI-specific ‘vocal fry’ in order to better communicate with it? That’s not just mimicry. It’s insightful. And it just might work. ;)
- 2mo ago
- culi 2mo agoClaude is listed as a contributor right there