Have you tried Grok?
I've not used Copilot. Many things M/$ puts out, I dump if I can.
Internet Exploder was one, and now Edge. sigh.
I don't need tools that have to interrupt me with ads. Just say'n'.
Steve Thompson
On 11/18/2025 2:37 AM, David Cole wrote:
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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