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.

Why the future is local app

https://getapps.cafe/blog/why-the-future-is-local-app
1•knlam•1m ago•0 comments

Studying AI in the Wild: Reflections from the AI Work Research Group (2025)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joms.70021
1•Tomte•9m ago•0 comments

Hiring game developers Triumph Arcade

https://www.triumphlabs.com/
1•elidenslow•10m ago•1 comments

Cross-Vendor Semantic Void Matrix: Zero-Byte Outputs in GPT/Claude/Gemini/Kimi

https://zenodo.org/records/21696066
1•rayanpal_•12m ago•0 comments

Building an S3 client with 20x more throughput and single core [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-Xm7VEqSk
1•jorangreef•16m ago•0 comments

YKK Sells 10B Zippers a Year. How Did It Get So Big?

https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/ykk-sells-10-billion-zippers-a-year-how-did-it-get-so-big-253a24a2
1•hbcondo714•17m ago•0 comments

Show HN: We quantized Qwen3.6-35B-A3B to 2-bit: 12.3 GB, 225 tok/s on a 4090

https://huggingface.co/EschaLabs/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-Escha-W2
2•yzh•20m ago•1 comments

2.75-FUNdaMENTALs of Design(a.k.a. Precision Engineering Basics) by Alex Slocum [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgMq7yha9wU&list=PLksE8LDXGXl_MQHKr2DqhfDC64W7QHjxL
1•pillars•20m ago•0 comments

React's Programming Model, Compiled

https://octanejs.dev
1•acmnrs•21m ago•0 comments

New MCP Protocol: Bringing MCP 2026-07-28 to Claude

https://claude.com/blog/bringing-mcp-2026-07-28-to-claude
2•BearBest•23m ago•0 comments

The Strain in Your Brain

https://anirudh.fi/strain
1•signa11•23m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Is Reddit trying to kill old Reddit?

4•lostaccount•28m ago•2 comments

Hollywood Stopped Making Movies in Hollywood

https://www.statsignificant.com/p/how-hollywood-stopped-making-movies
1•gmays•33m ago•0 comments

'Odyssey' translator Emily Wilson: Nolan shouldn't have written movie himself

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/29/nx-s1-5910645/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-christopher-nolan
3•aanet•34m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Alarium – a live 3D flight tracker built on community ADS-B

https://www.alarium.tech
1•brandonponce•35m ago•0 comments

After rewriting SQLite in Rust, Turso turns its sights on Postgres

https://www.theregister.com/databases/2026/07/29/after-rewriting-sqlite-in-rust-turso-turns-its-s...
6•theanonymousone•39m ago•0 comments

Kirin XE90 and X90 Plus mark Huawei's first PC processors despite sanctions

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Kirin-XE90-and-X90-Plus-mark-Huawei-s-first-public-unveiling-of-PC-...
2•yogthos•40m ago•0 comments

Lose an engine at V1, Falcon 10x holds power on the good side [pdf]

https://www.dassault-aviation.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2026/06/Falcon-10X-backgrounder-in...
1•r2sk5t•41m ago•1 comments

APFS is case-insensitive by default

https://swild.dev/dev/apfs-case-insensitive/
2•wslh•42m ago•1 comments

Show HN: a Rust coding agent that is compatible with Claude Code plugins/skills

https://github.com/KonghaYao/peri
2•sowild_fun•44m ago•1 comments

US Considers Creating Finra-Like Watchdog to Vet Top AI Models

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-17/us-considers-creating-finra-like-watchdog-to-v...
2•achow•45m ago•1 comments

Musk's X says Australia social media ban crackdown undermines international law

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/musks-x-says-australia-social-media-ban-crackdown-underm...
2•1vuio0pswjnm7•46m ago•1 comments

Cocoa prices are easing. So why is chocolate still so expensive?

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/26/cocoa-prices-chocolate-lindt-barry-callebaut-nestle.html
2•walterbell•46m ago•1 comments

Closed models refuse to help researcher swat Linux bug

https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/07/29/closed-models-refuse-to-help-researcher-swat-lin...
1•justworks•48m ago•0 comments

NSF pilots 4-year PhDs with industry research placements

https://www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-partners-universities-industry-pilot-initiative-four
35•osnium123•50m ago•14 comments

AI Facebook Ads Creator: Create High-Converting Video Ads

https://textideo.com/use-cases/facebook-ad-video-generator
1•cloaud•50m ago•0 comments

Things You Never Hear

1•mr-pink•51m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Numbat – Agent Runtime Detection and Response

https://github.com/perplexityai/numbat
1•kpollls•53m ago•0 comments

Roundup of August 2026 Bootstrapper Events

https://bootstrappersbreakfast.com/2026/07/28/roundup-of-august-2026-bootstrapper-events/
1•skmurphy•1h ago•1 comments

Scientists find a simple way to stop cavities without drilling

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260729010719.htm
6•ninjahawk1•1h ago•0 comments