Post

Over at the newsletter I wrote about the growing number of people deluding themselves into believing their computer software has attained human-level consciousness:

karlbode.comYour Software Is Not SentientSoftware simulacrum is not true consciousness, the stripper at the strip club doesn't actually love you, and nearly all of the biggest problems with "AI" have very ordinary human origins.

Karl Bode

@karlbode.com

4 May

modern automation software is a stochastic parrot, creating an approximated simulacrum of human awareness in convincing, flattering, entertaining, and sometimes useful ways but if you think your software has good, bad, or decidedly organic intentions, the problem is, unfortunately, you.

Karl Bode

@karlbode.com

4 May

I keep running into otherwise smart people (including engineers and tech journalists) who genuinely believe their chatbot software has attained human level consciousness despite it being a glorified trick of the light, and I find it genuinely both fascinating and unnerving

Karl Bode

@karlbode.com

I really think a lot of these guys just like the feeling created when a chatbot reinforces their priors and compliments them and their work, and can't be honest about that, so they layer all sorts of pseudo-intellectual and pseudo-philosophical framework as justification

4/5/26, 10:05 pm5 reposts46 likes

Michael

@michaelkstahl.bsky.social

4 May

LLMs are programmed to only give positive responses. "Michael, I think it's wonderful that you want to commit suicide! Would you like me to give you step by step instructions on standard methods or shall I create a unique manner?"

Kris Holt

@krisholt1.bsky.social

4 May

One of the most depressing aspects of AI psychosis is learning that you can persuade at least some of your fellow humans to believe all sorts of crazy shit if you're willing to relentlessly validate all of their bad ideas

Phil Edwards

@philedwards.bsky.social

4 May

Which was the first chatbot to say "I..."? (ELIZA didn't.) Crazy programming decision, unless your intention was to bluff users into thinking you'd created much more than you had - a bluff that's succeeded on an alarming scale.