This is absolutely chilling. Please read … the way ChatGPT evolved to advise this young man, including advising him not to talk to his parents, should scare the bejeezus out of all of us.
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was just going to post this- the clip on tv was devastating
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The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that previous research has described as sycophancy — a tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a person’s beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear.
It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix but could also make their chatbots less commercially viable.
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I spent most of my career being proud of my research and writing skills. Those skills (as well as being able to unjam the photocopier) often were recognized among my co-workers, particularly for writing things like reports, letters and memos. Now anyone with ChatGPT can produce similar. I’m glad I’m retired.
As I read this thread I think of the negative impact on various careers. Like home designers. I know that those professions can use it, but I’m guessing fewer people will hire them when they can do it themselves.
I also know a professor who has started requiring hand written in-class assignments to reduce AI use. Interesting how technology advances result in a return to “old school”. In that vein, my 24 year old son told me that his friends were enamored with digital cameras and asking their parents for their old ones. And then downloading the pictures to their phone. I laughed.
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I’ve used Gemini to help design a ring. It’s still clearly learning, though I’ve gotten some interesting designs.
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I’m currently using ChatGPT to help me choose a granite slab for our cabin’s kitchen countertop. I took a pic of a couple of slabs at the fabricator’s, gave Chat a pic of the kitchen and asked it to replace the current countertop with each of the pattern pics.
Current Formica (drawer front missing because I took it with me to the fabricator):
Swirly pattern (Chat filled in the missing drawer front which is still sitting in my car):
Speckled pattern (asked Chat to undermount the sink as that is the main reason for the counter replacement):
These images helped me clearly eliminate the swirly pattern, but I think I’ll return to take some pics of lighter, less-patterned/more-solid gray stone. (I initially wanted a light, pearl-gray soapstone, but don’t want the upkeep.)
@Colorado_mom: You asked in the other AI thread if Chat could help you re-do a room. This is one example, and I gave another upthread asking Chat to render built-in bunkbeds for our cabin’s lower level. It eventually gave me exactly what I wanted so DH can model it using his CAD software to do the actual build out.
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Wait… I thought according to Chat GPT you were dead?!?! 
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Just keeping busy in the afterlife decorating my crypt.
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I highly recommend quartz (manmade) or quartzite (mined). Try some of the quartz patterns using names of the colors on the makers website. AI should be able to find “slabs” on the internet. I wonder what would happen if you try asking AI to use Cambria Berwyn, for example (no specific reason, it is that’s the only one I remember off the top of my head because it is in my kitchen 
).
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Thanks, Bunsen, but I prefer granite to any other surface.
I can see a few of us aren’t ready for bed yet. 
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I’m just curious if Chat can do that just by using the material name. 
I’m sure it can, but the cemetery is closing for the night, and I must return to my mound. 
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I just used chargtp to compare my taxes before and after Trump’s one beautiful bill. I also asked it estimate what my taxes would be when I retire, both federal and state. It was easy and fairly accurate.
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ChatGPT just saved us money and time. DH ordered a touchless Kohler faucet for our bathroom through Amazon. When it came, it had only one hose and one place to PUT a hose, which made no sense because you need two for hot and cold water. Of course, he didn’t realize this for more than 30 days, so Amazon told him to contact Kohler directly. First, DH took the faucet to a local plumber who agreed it must be defective. The Kohler agent agreed and so they sent us another faucet. Guess what, it was exactly the same as the first. DH was furious at their incompetence, but I thought, “Huh, it’s a good company and it seems hard to believe that lightning would strike twice…”
So I did an internet search and discovered one complaint about the faucet, but no explanation or other help.
Then I asked ChatGPT, and sure enough, it’s supposed to have only one hose. You can use either hot or cold water with it, OR add a temperature mixing valve, but in that case you’ll have only one temperature of water (eg., cold, lukewarm, or hot). It’s obviously meant for places like airport bathrooms.
I called Kohler, and they are going to issue a refund immediately. They will send a shipping label for us to return the second faucet, but we can keep the other one. Maybe we can use it at our cabin, although it requires electricity so we’d have to hook it up to the generator. It would be kind of fun to have a high-tech faucet off-grid.
So yay for AI!
I have told DH REPEATEDLY he should use ChatGPT - he finally wrote down the website address.
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I don’t use Chat GPT so haven’t been on this thread, but I thought of it while listening to today’s NYT Daily podcast. Had me in tears.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/podcasts/the-daily/chatgpt-ai-delusions.html
Had a disappointing experience using it. I finished a book by a woman who had moved to France so I asked ChatGPT to recommend similar books. It came back with about a dozen titles of promising-sounding books and I looked for them on Amazon. I couldn’t find them and after the 3rd or 4th failure it dawned on me that ChatGPT had simply invented the titles. They didn’t exist!
I then tried Perplexity (another AI) and it gave me a list of books that are real. So lesson learned about using AI.
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Asked how social media can promote civility
Social media can promote civility and respect through a combination of platform design, community norms, user behavior, and accountability mechanisms. Here’s how:
1. Designing for Positive Engagement
Platforms can be designed to encourage thoughtful interactions and reduce toxic behavior.
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Algorithmic changes: Prioritize content that sparks constructive discussion over outrage or misinformation.
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Friction features: Prompt users before posting harmful or offensive comments (e.g., “Are you sure you want to post this?”).
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Highlight civil conversations: Promote respectful debates or users who model good behavior.
2. Clear Community Guidelines
Social media platforms can set clear expectations around respectful behavior.
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Public, easy-to-understand rules: These should define what counts as harassment, hate speech, or bullying.
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Consequences for violations: Consistent enforcement helps create a safer, more respectful environment.
3. Effective Moderation Tools
Both human and AI moderation can help prevent or reduce incivility.
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Report and block functions: Empower users to manage their own experience.
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Content review teams: Ensure reports are fairly reviewed, with appeals processes in place.
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AI detection: Automatically flag or reduce the visibility of harmful content.
4. Encouraging Digital Literacy and Empathy
Education campaigns and resources can guide users toward respectful engagement.
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Digital citizenship education: Teach users how to disagree without attacking.
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Empathy prompts: Encourage users to see the human behind the screen.
5. Community-Led Initiatives
Users can model and encourage civility within their own circles.
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Influencers and role models: Public figures can set a tone of respectful discourse.
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Hashtags and movements: Campaigns like #ChooseKindness or #StopBullying raise awareness and set community norms.
6. Feedback Loops and Transparency
Platforms should be transparent about enforcement and open to user feedback.
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Regular reports: Share how many harmful posts were removed and why.
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User feedback mechanisms: Let users suggest improvements to moderation or guidelines.
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Did you ask how CC measures up? 
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