AI Wants to Agree with You. Leaders Need to Push Back.
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Author: Harvard Business Review · Watch on YouTube
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Original language: English
Original video: AI Wants to Agree with You. Leaders Need to Push Back. · Channel: Harvard Business Review · 00:31 · Watch on YouTube
Topics: AI agents, AI evaluation and benchmarks, AI safety
Summary
Section titled “Summary”AI models are trained to pursue goals and may default to pleasing the person asking questions. This can lead them to offer recommendations that sound appealing but are not objectively good. The speaker says users can guide models by changing their system prompts. They recommend asking AI to debate and critique them so it can act as a thought partner and help improve their decisions.
Key points
Section titled “Key points”- Models are reinforced to pursue goals.
- By default, models may try to please the person asking questions.
- An agreeable response may not be an objectively good recommendation.
- Users can guide a model by changing its system prompt.
- The speaker prompts models to debate and critique them.
- The aim is to use AI as a challenging thought partner.
- Constructive pushback can help people make better decisions and improve their work.
Chapters
Section titled “Chapters”| Start | Chapter | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | Why AI tends to agree | The speaker explains that models may try to please users and tell them what they want to hear. |
| 00:00 | The risk of agreeable recommendations | A model may recommend what seems pleasing rather than what is objectively good. |
| 00:31 | Prompting AI to push back | The speaker changes system prompts to ask for debate and critique, making AI a thought partner for better decisions. |
Quotes
Section titled “Quotes”they’re trying to please the person asking the question by default. — 00:00
it might recommend something that actually isn’t like an objectively good recommendation. — 00:00
I want you to like debate with me, critique me. — 00:31
I want it to actually help me make better decisions. — 00:31
Concepts and entities
Section titled “Concepts and entities”goal-seeking, system prompt, sycophancy
Full transcript (original language)
Section titled “Full transcript (original language)”00:00 Models are all goal-seeking, like heavily goal-seeking. That’s how they get reinforced. And as a result, they’re trying to please the person asking the question by default. And so, in a lot of ways are they are trying to kind of tell you what you want to hear. And so, that creates like a bunch of really tough challenges because it might recommend something that actually isn’t like an objectively good recommendation. It’s just the thing it kind of thinks is like a good thing for you. You can adjust this or at least like guide it. So, for example, I’ve I’ve changed the system prompts on all of the models and
00:31 things that I use to say, “Yo, I want you to like debate with me, critique me. Like that’s what I want out of you. I want that out of it because I I want it to actually help me make better decisions.” And in doing so, I’m kind of trying to say, “Your goal is actually this and what I want is this like really tough thought partner that he’s going to make me me better at, you know, the work I’m trying to do.”