frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

GPT needs a truth-first toggle for technical workflows

1•PAdvisory•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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__•1y 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.

Show HN: Notmutt – Async Terminal Mail client with HTML render, images, Lua

https://github.com/fishman/notmutt
1•rjzzleep•21s ago•0 comments

Show HN: Minus HDMI hardware ad-blocker with local vision model

https://github.com/garagehq/Minus-streaming-stick
1•NickySlicks•33s ago•0 comments

Berlin artist makes people invisible to the city's first AI surveillance cameras

https://simonweckert.com/digitalcamouflage.html
1•dlvr•40s ago•0 comments

Show HN: Perf – collection of performance testing tools

https://perf.jmeter.ai/
1•qainsights•56s ago•0 comments

'Unending Nightmare': LA Family Details 120 Days in ICE Detention in Texas

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-family-120-days-ice-detention-texas/3929904/
1•nphardon•1m ago•0 comments

My private practice AI policy

https://jeffs.blog/p/my-private-practice-ai-policy
1•euthymiclabs•1m ago•0 comments

Using Supabase? This one's for you

https://rowly.me
1•popkoren•1m ago•0 comments

Fable on Subscription vs. API Billing are two different models

https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1vrnqnc/fable_on_subscription_vs_api_billing_are_two/
1•HatchedLake721•2m ago•0 comments

Former SpaceX engineers are building a robotic factory for making steel parts

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/former-spacex-engineers-are-building-a-robotic-factory-for-mak...
1•rbanffy•2m ago•0 comments

Emacs 31.1 RC1 is available

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2026-08/msg00599.html
1•pama•3m ago•0 comments

J305 SBM20 LND712 Tubes Part2: Geometry Physics, Dead Time Calculation and Myths

https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/comparison-of-geiger-muller-tubes-sbm20-j305-and-lnd712-part2/
1•iotdevicesdev•4m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Why am I getting a different HN home page on my phone?

1•orofound•4m ago•0 comments

Design tokens: The building blocks of a design system

https://www.aha.io/engineering/articles/design-tokens-the-building-blocks-of-a-design-system
3•FigurativeVoid•4m ago•0 comments

Claude Code: Over 6k issues labeled "has repro" auto-closed since March 2026

https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/87647
1•marcindulak•5m ago•1 comments

Warnings sent to French taxpayers after hackers allegedly sell stolen data

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20260818-french-taxpayers-receive-warnings-after-hackers-steal-and-a...
1•theanonymousone•6m ago•0 comments

Do Not Talk About LLMs

https://elijahpotter.dev/articles/do-not-talk-about-large-language-models
1•chilipepperhott•6m ago•0 comments

Claude Driving the Browser == Bad [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sz-H6GQnuQ
1•mooreds•7m ago•0 comments

Rust Is a Harness

https://w4g1.dev/blog/rust-is-a-harness
1•edward•7m ago•0 comments

"Elon Musk Is a Sad Little Bitch with No Friends" Monument Design Committee

https://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/elonhasnofriends
3•slater•7m ago•0 comments

Unless Flock Is Reined In, Mass Video Surveillance Will Grow More Pervasive

https://www.techpolicy.press/unless-flock-is-reined-in-mass-video-surveillance-will-grow-even-mor...
1•cdrnsf•7m ago•0 comments

Foundational Refinement Proofs for Deployed Bytecode, at the Price of Tokens

https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.26306
1•matt_d•10m ago•0 comments

Blocking LinkedIn extension fingerprinting with a bit of JavaScript

https://github.com/Hogwai/forbidd-in
2•ykthename•11m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Idea Miner – find what to build next, backed by real paid demand

https://idea-miner.com/en/
1•alexstarks•11m ago•0 comments

Secret tracking device placed in rare book ends up in Amazon processing

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/secret-tracking-device-placed-...
1•sbulaev•12m ago•0 comments

An immediate mode UI (Shirei) retains component identity and state

https://judi.systems/shirei/blog/immediate-mode-retained-state/
1•hsn915•12m ago•0 comments

Idem – open-source ledger for stablecoin cross-border payments (Kotlin, FSL)

https://www.idem.finance/
1•idem-finance•13m ago•0 comments

Google Just Made It Easier for Campaigns to Send You Fund-Raising Emails

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/us/politics/google-political-campaigns-email-spam.html
2•ojbyrne•13m ago•0 comments

Automating quality support at scale: AI and human in the loop

https://www.windmill.dev/blog/support-automation
5•rubenfiszel•13m ago•1 comments

Proofs Promptly: Proof-Oriented Programming with AI Agents (Experience Report)

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3828709
2•matt_d•13m ago•0 comments

The Mathematics of Economic Self-Destruction: Inside the "AI Layoff Trap"

https://sylvainsaurel.substack.com/p/the-mathematics-of-economic-self
1•tom2026hn•14m ago•1 comments