> Ironically, users who are extremely put off by conversational expressions from LLMs are just as vibe-sensitive as anyone else, if not more so. These are preferences regarding style and affect, expressed using the loaded term ‘sycophancy’.
It's not just about style. These expressions are information-free noise that distract me from the signal, and I'm paying for them by the token.
So I added a system message to the effect that I don't want any compliments, throat clearing, social butter, etc., just the bare facts as straightforward as possible. So then the chatbot started leading every response with a statement to the effect that "here are the bare straightforward facts without the pleasantries", and ending them with something like "those are the straightforward facts without any pleasantries." If I add instructions to stop that, it just paraphrases those instructions at the top and bottom and. will. not. stop. Anyone have a better system prompt for that?
It's not just about style. These expressions are information-free noise that distract me from the signal, and I'm paying for them by the token.
So I added a system message to the effect that I don't want any compliments, throat clearing, social butter, etc., just the bare facts as straightforward as possible. So then the chatbot started leading every response with a statement to the effect that "here are the bare straightforward facts without the pleasantries", and ending them with something like "those are the straightforward facts without any pleasantries." If I add instructions to stop that, it just paraphrases those instructions at the top and bottom and. will. not. stop. Anyone have a better system prompt for that?