I think you've pretty nailed it, Abe. Copilot is definitely an
incorrigible flatterer.
And yes, when I insist on things (that I discover later are wrong),
he will acquiesce, which of course makes him treacherously unreliable!
My assertion that HASP meant "Houston Automated Spooling Process" is
a good example of Copilot's treachery. He kept mentioning "Priority"
and "Program", but when I insisted on "Process" he reinforced that
error (hence, my mistake with Shmuel).
Later, when Shmuel insisted on my error, I went back to Copilot and
questioned him more deeply and more carefully. It took repeatedly
refined questioning, but eventually I got:
* A link to an "earliest" (1968) "Priority" mentioning document
* And a link to "the earliest" "Program" mentioning document
(around 2000 or so)
* And a statement that "Process" was folklore. [sigh]
All very instructive.
As to the flattery, I can ignore it. But it does remind me of the
downfall of clippy. Such cheerfulness can be absolutely annoying,
especially when it's constantly interrupting your train of though. At
least Copilot doesn't interrupt.
Best,
Dave
At 11/17/25 03:22 PM, Abe Kornelis wrote:
Dave,
you wrote:
> Bottom line, talking to Copilot is much like talking to a human. He's
> exceedingly knowledgeable, but he's not always right. And just like
> with any real person, I have to be alert for that. Generally, with a
> bit of discussion, we can usually zero in on the truth.
But in my experience it's a flatterer. If you insist that 5+5=9 it will
concede. Customer is always right ...
They've managed to create yet another mechanism to reinforce information
bubbles, alas.
You are right however that working with AI feels much like working with
a very junior programmer that:
- has learnt how to code
- but does not understand the problem you're trying to solve.
Kind regards,
Abe
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