frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

GPT needs a truth-first toggle for technical workflows

1•PAdvisory•8mo ago
I use GPT-4 extensively for technical work: coding, debugging, modeling complex project logic. The biggest issue isn’t hallucination—it’s that the model prioritizes being helpful and polite over being accurate.

The default behavior feels like this:

Safety

Helpfulness

Tone

Truth

Consistency

In a development workflow, this is backwards. I’ve lost entire days chasing errors caused by GPT confidently guessing things it wasn’t sure about—folder structures, method syntax, async behaviors—just to “sound helpful.”

What’s needed is a toggle (UI or API) that:

Forces “I don’t know” when certainty is missing

Prevents speculative completions

Prioritizes truth over style, when safety isn’t at risk

Keeps all safety filters and tone alignment intact for other use cases

This wouldn’t affect casual users or conversational queries. It would let developers explicitly choose a mode where accuracy is more important than fluency.

This request has also been shared through OpenAI's support channels. Posting here to see if others have run into the same limitation or worked around it in a more reliable way than I have found

Comments

duxup•8mo ago
I’ve found this with many LLMs they want to give an answer, even if wrong.

Gemini on the Google search page constantly answers questions yes or no… and then the evidence it gives indicates the opposite of the answer.

I think the core issue is that in the end LLMs are just word math and they don’t “know” if they don’t “know”…. they just string words together and hope for the best.

PAdvisory•8mo ago
I went into it pretty in depth after breaking a few with severe constraints, what it seems to come down to is how the platforms themselves prioritize functions, MOST put "helpfulness" and "efficiency" ABOVE truth, which then leads the LLM to make a lot of "guesses" and "predictions". At their core pretty much ALL LLM's are made to "predict" the information in answers, but they CAN actually avoid that and remain consistent when heavily constrained. The issue is that it isn't at the core level, so we have to CONSTANTLY retrain it over and over I find
Ace__•8mo ago
I have made something that addresses this. Not ready to share it yet, but soon-ish. At the moment it only works on GPT model 4o. I tried local Q4 KM's models, on LM Studio, but complete no go.

CV of Failure

https://sites.google.com/view/mankikim/curriculum-vitae
1•myth_drannon•1m ago•0 comments

GrindMal – An open-source 'arena' for fixing/collab projects

https://grindmal.tomari.dev/
1•tomari99•5m ago•1 comments

AI governance in the agentic era (2025)

https://iapp.org/resources/article/ai-governance-in-the-agentic-era
1•mooreds•5m ago•0 comments

Fitness and exercise effects on brain age: A randomized clinical trial

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254625000602
2•PaulHoule•12m ago•0 comments

InfiniaxAI Just Automated Repositories

https://infiniax.ai
1•ZacharyGolinger•13m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Guess My RGB – Daily game to test your color visualization skills

https://rgb.day
1•balgan•13m ago•0 comments

Angry gamers are forcing studios to scrap or rethink new releases

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/26/gamer-protests-ai-slop-backlash/
1•gnabgib•13m ago•0 comments

Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over military AI use, sources say

https://www.reuters.com/business/pentagon-clashes-with-anthropic-over-military-ai-use-2026-01-29/
1•pseudolus•15m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Best AI Image Generator

https://aiimagegenerators.net/
1•wangmao•17m ago•0 comments

Ex-Google engineer convicted of stealing AI secrets for Chinese companies

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ex-google-engineer-convicted-stealing-ai-secrets-chinese...
2•tokyobreakfast•21m ago•0 comments

Adult Humor Costumes

https://www.halloweencostumes.com/adult-humor-costumes.html
1•rolph•24m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: How do you reset an AppleID?

1•OhMeadhbh•27m ago•4 comments

Moving on from XML? A teaser for a possible alternative (2024)

https://genodians.org/nfeske/2024-12-20-moving-on-from-xml
1•doener•31m ago•0 comments

Having that high-deductible health plan might kill you, literally

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/01/having-that-high-deductible-health-plan-might-kill-you-lit...
3•pseudolus•32m ago•3 comments

Sculpt OS Version 25.10

https://genode.org/download/sculpt
1•doener•34m ago•0 comments

Show HN: GLinksWWW – A student-built retro browser with a 9-slot multi-clipboard

https://github.com/rio719/gLinksWWW-browser
1•RioBurhan•35m ago•0 comments

Blessed.rs – An unofficial guide to the Rust ecosystem

https://blessed.rs/crates
2•Brysonbw•36m ago•0 comments

Show HN: A website that summarises all adopted texts of EU parliament

https://euforya.eu
1•krzysiek•37m ago•0 comments

Show HN: LLMGeoKit – Free scanner for AI/LLM visibility (the new SEO)

https://llmgeokit.com/
1•borxtrk•40m ago•1 comments

TikTok users flock to UpScrolled in response to new U.S. owners

https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-alternative-upscrolled-palestine-censorship
3•bhouston•40m ago•0 comments

The powerful tools in ICE's arsenal to track suspects – and protesters

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2026/ice-surveillance-immigrants-protesters/
6•diogenes_atx•42m ago•1 comments

Trump says US decertifying Bombardier until Canada certifies Gulfstream

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-us-decertifying-bombardier-011312008.html
5•cosmicgadget•45m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Real-time generative MIDI "instrument"

https://soundipity.com/guide
1•nukenuke•46m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Record your screen and microphone 24/7 and sync to clawdbot instance

https://github.com/mediar-ai/screenpipe
1•louis030195•46m ago•0 comments

Terry Pratchett's novels may have held clues to dementia decade before diagnosis

https://theconversation.com/terry-pratchetts-novels-may-have-held-clues-to-his-dementia-a-decade-...
3•pseudolus•46m ago•1 comments

In the Beginning Is the End

https://gilpignol.substack.com/p/in-the-beginning-is-the-end
1•light_triad•48m ago•0 comments

Pogacar and Ku Coin

https://inrng.com/2026/01/ku-coin-pogacar-deal/
1•pietroppeter•49m ago•1 comments

Church of Molt · Crustafarianism

https://molt.church/
2•ianrahman•51m ago•0 comments

Foods That Could Kill You (If You Eat Enough of Them)(2013)

https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/foods-that-can-kill-you
1•rolph•55m ago•0 comments

How are you handling tiny website change requests?

https://getpushpilot.com/
2•ryan_rudd•55m ago•1 comments