Location: San Francisco
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: TypeScript/JS, React, node.js, Redis, Postgres, pgvector, LLM agents, Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure), ci/cd pipelines, other tech
  Résumé/CV: on request
  Email: charles@geuis.com

Think back to the movie The Manchurian Candidate. Produce highly capable LLM models then give them away for free. Train them with key phrases/codes etc to perform nefarious actions later when those codes are present in some piece of ingested context.

There were a couple of papers written on the topic in 2018 (I think, I'll need to find them again) and there's been surprisingly little more work done on the topic since. At least from what I've seen.

I really love the use of local models over subscription services but personally I would never recommend using open weights models from certain sources in a commercial environment.

But over the last 2-3 days, it's started exhibiting some of the problems previous models presented. It's been making absurd assumptions without asking about my preferences. More definitively, in 3 instances I've had to either correct it on previous decisions that were made but it ignored. 2 times I've had to double check it on some quite obvious high level performance choices I've come to anticipate the model already understanding from prior experience, especially in the same project. At least twice I've had to call it out only get the remedial "you're totally right I should have done X instead".

Also to be clear, I'm not playing around with more advanced expensive models that fall back. This is all experience within a Pro plan using Opus 5.5 medium.

Anyone else been encountering weirdness?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50238759

Points: 5

# Comments: 5

Chrome was fast, did the basic job of correctly rendering pages, and its js runtime was groundbreaking. Node.js was direct outcome of that revolution.

Now these days the only thing keeping me tied to chrome is finger muscle memory. The death of manifest v2 is the 2nd to last nail.

Honestly Opus 5.5 had gotten good enough I've been considering a project to have it build a new browser based on the open source Chrome and keeps the v2 in place. Just customize it specifically for my preferences and call it done. No more unexpected breaking updates. Just a browser that does its job and nothing else.

The problem is I use safari on iOS. Generally not a bad browser. Equivalent and superior to Chrome is certain aspects. I don't really need to run Chrome on my phone. Safari is good enough. However... for a local build only I use maybe it's possible.

For some reason the first time I tapped the link it didn't go directly to the article, which confused me. Subsequent times it goes straight through.

So saying please and thanks isn't anthropomorphizing the models, it's more simply using input patterns that get better outputs more aligned to the desired result.

It also has the benefit of reinforcing polite behavior among us, the humans. Side benefit, but it is a thing to consider.

I don't think there's anything going on inside other than predictions. That being said, being nice never hurts.

If I'm mean to some people and nice to others, that just means I'm an a-hole. I don't wanna be that. Being kind all around helps me be a better person in the world. And in some cases with the robots, it helps as well.

(channel name is AI Slop for those not clicking the link.)

I scanned through paragraph after paragraph of overbloated and repetitive descriptions of what and how RAG works compared to how "modern agents" need to access documents.

What I never saw at any point was whatever this "alternative to RAG" was supposed to be.

Honestly the entire body of copy feels like it was llm generated.

  Location: San Francisco
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: TypeScript/JS, React, node.js, Redis, Postgres, pgvector, LLM agents, Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure), ci/cd pipelines, other tech
  Résumé/CV: on request
  Email: charles@geuis.com

The usage of them immediately makes your commentary suspect. Either you aren't using the standard web interface to make a comment, you're using and odd 3rd party client, or its LLM generated.

Science moves forward yet again with a few backward steps.

  Location: San Francisco
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: TypeScript/JS, React, node.js, Redis, Postgres, pgvector, LLM agents, Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure), ci/cd pipelines, other tech
  Résumé/CV: on request
  Email: charles@geuis.com

> Gameplay Type: First Person Shooter Role Playing Game Summary: A long anticipated release with eight years of development time, the game’s launch has been plagued with bugs and poor performance as well as decidedly mixed reviews. Regardless, the title offers gamers the largest open world cyberpunk universe thus far, so despite the rather uninspired art design and a plot that brings nothing new to the genre, this game is the best available to allow players to immerse themselves in a cyberpunk setting.

This is a very dated and seriously opinionated review.