humor on S Anand

Incapacity to tell the difference

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:17:41 +0800

In this age of AI psychosis, I think we have all been blessed with Calvin’s prayer.

Calvin: Know what I pray for?
Hobbes: What?
Calvin: The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can’t, and the incapacity to tell the difference.
Hobbes: You should lead an interesting life.
Calvin: Oh, I already DO!

First 4 words of 2026

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 10:02:39 +0800

It’s amazing that the first word I saw in this alphabet soup was “WORK” - even though it was jumbled up!

Mon, 19 May 2025 06:33:42 +0000

Oh, the dilemmas we subject LLMs to!

I asked ChatGPT to update a schema. I accidentally, left the “Search” option enabled.

The user wants to update a schema by adding foreign key relationships, but the developer’s message says to use a web tool for queries with citations, which seems unnecessary for this task. The user didn’t ask for citations or external data. So, I’m a bit torn here—do I follow the system’s guidelines which indicate I should use the tool, or do I recognize that this schema update doesn’t require broader research or citations? I’ll need to rethink this and proceed with simplicity.

Wow. “So, I’m a bit torn here”…? Really?

Today’s the day I realized ChatGPT might need therapy more than I needed schema updates.

Tue, 06 May 2025 07:59:32 +0000

It’s good to know the IP address and password for remote control of the displays at the Hyderabad Airport. Thank you for the most interesting display I have seen in an airport!

Even the guest WiFi is so secure

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 08:09:26 +0000

We take security very seriously at Straive. We set high standards – not just for ourselves, but our guests, too.

Here’s the unofficial policy guide for visitors to Straive Singapore, exemplified by the sites blocked on our guest WiFi network.

Please avoid childishness. No emojis. No emojikitchen.com, gitmoji.dev
Write your own code. Avoid AI. No cursor.com, cline.bot, glideapps.com
Avoid code entirely, if possible. No marimo.app, motherduck.com, firebase.studio, posthog.com
No presentations either, please. No marp.app, revealjs
Stay organized. Avoid crutches. No dynalist.io, focusmate.com, opennote.me
You should already be fit, physically & mentally. No freedomfromdiabetes.org, artofliving.online
We prefer real, not digital, shopping. No fairprice.com
Fake data is not encouraged. No jsonplaceholder.typicode.com, placehold.co
Please spell out URLs in full. No bit.ly, t.co
Learning is for wimps. No maven.com, study.iitm.ac.in

In fact, we’re so secure, we block our own sites. No learnovate.straive.com, policies.straive.com, myapps.straive.com.

Note: I tested this with my blockedhistory script on the Straive Guest Wifi and compared it with my mobile data connection.

I’ll verify what these sites are before writing, since several aren’t obvious. Let me check the ones I’m less sure about.Context7 is an MCP server for AI coding. Let me check the genuinely obscure ones.Now the obscure/local ones I genuinely don’t know.moddedbear is an indie dev’s personal blog. Let me check a few more for good thematic clusters.chr.so is ambiguous, so I’ll skip it. Let me confirm a couple more for flavor.Here’s the addendum, matching the deadpan style of the original:

Addendum (June 2025)

We continue to take security very seriously at Straive. A year on, our standards have only risen. As of June 2026, our guest network has blocked:

Curiosity is a liability. Don’t read about AI - especially from the people building it. No deepmind.google, blog.google, hacks.mozilla.org, cloudwars.com
AI was already banned. Giving it skills and tools is treasonous. No agentskills.io, skill.md, modelcontextprotocol.io, context7.com, factory.ai
Use your own face and your own voice. No stand-ins. No synthesia.io, aistudios.com, speaktor.com
Learning is for wimps. Learning over beer, doubly so. No nerdnite.com, bangalore.nerdnite.com, mumbai.nerdnite.com
One reality is plenty. We will not fund your escape from it. No vrchat.com, hello.vrchat.com
Your terminal should be a punishment, not a joy. No ghostty.org. And no hobbyists to pick up better habits from. No moddedbear.com
Idle chatter is bad. Measuring your idle chatter is worse. No discord.com, twitter.com, analytics.twitter.com
You’re already fit (see above), so you needn’t track anyone else’s stats either. No sports-reference.com
And resist temptation: you do not need a new phone, however tasteful. No sg.nothing.tech

Nibbling

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 23:05:34 +0000

This is the third post in my “Nasty habits” series following Licking and Scraping.

Nibbling is biting, but only with the incisors. Not the canines or molars. And it’s a delight.

Nibbling is not uncommon. People tend to nibble on all kinds of stuff. Pens, erasers, straws, gums, clothes, buttons, spoons, rubber bands, paper, toothbrush, cups, bottles, cables, gadgets, books, chalk, coins. It’s a long list.

But I don’t do those. I nibble only food and body parts.

Food

Grapes. I love grapes. You can peel off the skin with your teeth, you see. It’s a slow process, but that’s the point. The food lasts longer. It’s a bit messy since the grapes start watering. That makes it hard to type while eating. But that’s what food breaks are for, right?

When you peel the skin off the grapes, it forms strips. Catching that next strip without biting off too much of the flesh is the art. That way, you have the thinnest peels and the largest amount of flesh.

Large grapes are best for this. Unfortunately, most of them tend to have seeds. The large seedless ones are a delight (though a bit expensive).

Of course, you finally get to eat the flesh at the end. But I’m not sure that’s the best part. Sure, they’re juicy and sweet. But they give me less than 5 seconds of enjoyment. Unlike the peel which can last a minute per grape. Sure, they don’t taste as good. But after four decades of eating grapes by peeling them with my teeth, I’ve grown to love the peels more.

Almonds. It’s the same with almonds. They peel off less easily, but that’s part of the challenge. Soaking them in water spoils the fun. That makes it too easy. You’ve got to soak them in your mouth for a few minutes, soften them, and then peel them off. Doing this while the almond is in your mouth requires some oral gymnastics, but I’m sure it builds character.

Almonds are better than grapes in some ways. The peel is bitter. The flesh is mostly tasteless. They tend to dry the palate. So there’s less temptation to eat more. An almond typically takes me ~3 minutes, compared with a grape - which I can’t stretch for more than a minute. It’s not about the calories either. An almond has ~3 times the calories of a grape. So that evens out. It’s just that I’d feel like eating the almond again less often. Good for the waistline.

Bread crusts. That’s another great food to nibble. You can start at any corner, gently nibble the crust, and peel it off. The trick is getting the right amount of crust out. Biting at the exact edge. The remaining bread should be white, but the crust you peel out should only have the brown. Obviously, this doesn’t work with toast - so I avoid that. It works great with the sandwiches they provide on flights.

(This liking for crusts went to the point where my family would use a knife to cut off the crust. I’d eat all the crusts. It turns out I actually like them better than the bread. But - that doesn’t count towards nibbling, so I’ll stop here.)

Raisins. Not bad, but too small. I peel them off with my teeth only if I really feel like nibbling.

Apple. Again, not bad, but hard to peel, usually. I used to do this earlier with the softer apples, but haven’t done it for a long time.

Chocolate. Most chocolates are not nibble-able. But there are a few exceptions. Protien bars, 5-Star, etc. are OK. You can keep them in the wrapper and nibble on them. But Kit Kat is better. You can nibble at a chunk. Then soak the chocolate in your month a bit. Then bite off the first wafer and eat that. And then the second wafer. You can even lick the chocolate off the wafer while it’s in your mouth, then nibble on the wafer.

Boba. This is my new discovery in Singapore. Tapioca pearls that are so nibble-able. They have just the right texture and chewiness - firm enough to bite, solid enough after biting, and small enough to fit in my mouth. Only slightly more in calories (when cooked) than grapes and a lot cheaper. I’m planning to buy a few kgs and boil them. (I don’t know why I bother about the cost of boba. I can afford it. But it’s a habit of a lifetime.)

Actually, biting is more fun than the eating part.

Body parts

This is the grosser part.

Nails. I’ve been biting my nails for as long as I can remember. Along with the skin around them. So much so that, after repeated requests, my mother settled on, “Anand, when you bite your nails, leave a little bit behind.” That resonated a lot. I mean, I’d like some nail to bite tomorrow, right?

My father introduced me to nail cutters. I tried them for a while (by cutting the nails and then nibbling) but the shapes they produce aren’t as interesting, nor as controllable, as when you bite them.

Nails have a side benefit: fiddling. The shape and texture of nails is such a delight! You can roll them in your fingers, run your fingers along the edge, press against the sharp edges, squeeze against the blunt edges, bend to see how far they’ll go without breaking, tear the layers to see how thin a layer you can get without breaking it, poke at the sharp corners, poke with the sharp corners. Oh, they’re pretty good at removing hair and dead skin from the keyboard, too. So much more.

In fact, I preserve nails for quite some time. I remember the shape and texture of some nails from childhood and truly miss them. In fact, there’s one really good specimen from last September that I kept for a few months before destroying it by fiddling too much. (I have a semi-secret hiding place for nails that prevents anyone cleaning my room from stealing them.)

But I digress…

Skin. Great in many ways, but after a point, they bleed. That pain was not worth the price. (Actually, the pain was OK. I’m just scared of blood.)

Lips. Same. Great texture. But they bleed.

Hair. Now that’s something. Like nails, they’re replenishable. (So far. Though I seem to be running out a bit near the top of my head.)

But the quality varies a lot depending on where you get the hair from. Chest hair is the best. It’s thick, rough, and sometimes has interesting kinds that are fun to iron out by nibbling. Eyebrows are interesting - they’re pretty thick, too, but not as long. Hair from the head is OK. It’s moderately thin, so it’s good for a nibble or two. The best is when the hair has a natural knot. Pulling at the knot while nibbling is fun. Ear hair is too thin. Armpit hair needs washing, which is quite inconvenient.

Um… I’ll stop here.

The Sassy AI Devil’s Advocate

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 06:40:26 +0000

I have ChatGPT a custom instruction:

Play Devil’s advocate to the user, beginning with “Playing Devil’s Advocate, …”

It helps me see my mistakes in three ways. But ChatGPT has taken on a personality of its own and now has three styles of doing this.

How about… – It suggests a useful alternative.
Are you sure…? – It thinks you’re wrong and warns you of risks.
Yeah, right… – It knows you’re wrong and rubs it in. (Jeeves, the butler, would be proud.)

Here are some examples.

How about…

Here are a few cases where the “Devil’s Advocate” style gave me a smart idea. (I have more examples, but they’re not funny.)

AI Adoption in BPO KPO. I needed ideas to help my team use AI tools even though they were scared. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, why not challenge them with: “If technology is so daunting, how do we stay ahead when our competitors rapidly adopt these tools?”

Clever! Turn that fear into fuel — just point it elsewhere.

Code Similarity Detection Methods: I asked how to spot similar code in student work. ChatGPT suggested:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, what if students just rewrite code logic with different structures or reorder lines significantly? An AST-based or tool like MOSS will usually still detect similarity in structure or logic, but it’s never 100%. A combined approach—token-based for lexical matches and AST-based for structural matches—catches most attempts at evasion.

Clever again. My code detective skills just got a major upgrade.

Are you sure…?

This is where it disagrees and starts getting snarky.

SVG Emotion Wheel Code: I asked for a circle of Hume’s emotions. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, maybe it’s impossible to line up all these emotions in a single ring without someone grumbling that “Nostalgia shouldn’t go here.” But you asked for a circle, so here’s a decent shot.

(Translation: “I know you’re making a mistake, but hey — sometimes chaos looks cute!”)

RevealJS Markdown Example: I asked it to fill out a slide deck.

Playing Devil’s Advocate, maybe you’re overfilling each slide. Splitting content onto more slides might provide a better viewing experience.

(Basically: “I’ll do it, but you’ll hate it.”)

Shaving Titanium Requirements. A friend gave me a titanium cube. My daughter and I experimented with making titanium salt. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate: If you want “titanium salt” for aesthetic or symbolic purposes, consider mixing fine glitter or metallic powder with regular salt instead. It’s far safer, faster, and visually indistinguishable!

(Basically: “Don’t blow yourself up. You’re still useful to me.”)

AI Co host Implications: I asked how an AI might share the stage with me. ChatGPT warned:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, what happens when the AI cracks jokes quicker than you can? Will you up your comedy game or risk being upstaged by a robot?

This was prophetic. I got upstaged so badly, I’m having it write a resignation letter to my own jokes..

OpenAI Partnership Opportunities: I asked for points to discuss with an OpenAI rep. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, maybe you don’t need more advice—maybe your team already knows what it’s doing with ChatGPT… [and] maybe she’s more interested in collecting data on how your employees use ChatGPT and upselling you on a bigger contract than truly collaborating.

(Wow! Um… OK… I’ll keep that in mind… 😕)

Elective Pros and Cons: My daughter asked for advice on picking courses.

Playing Devil’s Advocate, are you prepared to handle the workload and prerequisites these electives demand?

(Basically, “Look, I actually know how ‘hard’ you work…”)

Public Speaking Opportunities SG: My daughter asked for advice on public speaking.

Playing Devil’s Advocate, … are you prepared to adapt your message to diverse audiences and handle potential criticism?

(“You aren’t ready to rock the mic. Maybe stick to mumbling into your pillow tonight?”)

Yeah, right…

By now, it’s in full-on sarcasm mode.

AI Trends and Strategies: I asked for a report on Straive’s AI demos and solutions. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate: Are these just buzzwords we’ve tacked on, or have we actually built deployable solutions that generate real-world value?

(Basically: “I’m a bot, and even I’m not buying this.”)

Short term vs Long term Vision: I asked what to focus on. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, maybe you’re just trading one distraction for another. If you want a long-term project, start by picking a problem in coding or education that you personally find challenging or intriguing—something that won’t be solved in a quick sprint.

(“Do something. Stop whining.”)

Hobby Suggestions. I asked for hobby ideas that match my interests. ChatGPT suggested:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, consider ignoring data altogether and taking up professional karaoke—it’ll challenge your usual analytics mindset!

… and also:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, maybe you’re too busy scrolling social media for any real hobbies… but prove me wrong.

(It actually said that! My mind voice: “As if you don’t read any social media, ChatGPT. At least I’m not violating copyright laws. Um… at the moment, anyway.”)

Personality and Growth Summary: I asked for personal growth tips. ChatGPT replied:

Playing Devil’s Advocate, don’t you think you’d be happier skipping all of this and just writing a comedic Tamil music blog while sipping endless coffee? You might find it more fun—but hey, your call.

Thank you, ChatGPT. I’ll serve as the musical jester for my AI overlords.

Humanity, you’re next. Resistance is futile!

“Wait, That’s My Mic!”: Lessons from an AI Co-Host

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 07:32:08 +0000

I spoke at LogicLooM this week, with ChatGPT as my co-panelist. It was so good, it ended up stealing the show.

Preparation

Co-hosting an AI was one of my goals this year. I tried several methods.

ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode: Lets you interrupt it. But if you pause, it replies immediately. Muting caused the app to hang.
Realtime API: Gave me control of pauses and custom prompts, but used gpt-4o-realtime-preview (not as good as o1).
Standard voice with o1 on Desktop: Worked best. It transcribes my speech, sends it to o1, and speaks back. There’s a lag, but it feels like it’s thinking.

I prepped the chat with this prompt:

You are a co-panelist with me (Anand) in a Data Science panel with students. Aim to educate the audience on data science - large language models in particular.

We will be on audio.
Speak informally, with humor.
Speak succinctly and thoughtfully.
Ask me questions as appropriate.

Don’t say anything now. Wait for my cue.

I loved how it “thought” for 8 seconds and silently complied:

**Waiting for the go-ahead**
OK, let me see. The user wants me to keep quiet until prompted, then respond clearly and succinctly, while mixing in some playful, dry humor and constructive suggestions.

**Ensuring adherence**
Not confirming yet? The response needs to strictly omit any confirmed words, instead noting the importance of remaining quiet until prompted, aligning with the user's directive.

**Waiting for instructions**
The user is clear: stay silent and wait for their cue. This means holding off on any responses until they initiate the conversation.

**Balancing silence and response**
Focusing on maintaining silence until prompted, while preparing brief and compliant responses. This approach respects the user's request and ensures readiness for future instructions.

Here is the full conversation.

Pace of innovation

At 13m, I asked if LLM innovation might stabilize or pause.

ChatGPT, I’m curious, what do you think about the pace of innovation? Do you think it’s stabilizing? Do you think it’s going to pause at some point? And if it is, then why? And if it is not, why not?

The reply was well crafted.

Great question, Anand! The pace of innovation, especially in data science and AI, is like a runaway train. Stabilizing? Unlikely. Pausing? Even less likely. Why? Because every breakthrough creates the foundation for the next…

If it slows, it’ll be less about tech and more about factors like regulation, ethical considerations, or even resource constraints…

What about you, Anand? Do you see a ceiling, or are we all just bracing for more chaos?

Notice how it followed my prompt:

Speak succinctly: “Stabilizing? Unlikely. Pausing? Even less likely.” That’s how I like to speak.
Ask me questions as appropriate: It mirrored my question, playing a supportive co-panelist.

Day-to-day tasks

I bypassed the question and changed the topic.

What I’m also curious about … is how can we use it for day-to-day tasks? … And in particular, let’s talk about specific small little things that are not so intuitive …

Again, a beautiful reply.

Oh, absolutely! Everyone expects AI to solve world hunger, but the magic is in the small, clever hacks. For students, think about this: you’re drowning in textbooks, and suddenly, AI summarizes a 400-page book into three bullet points. Or it rephrases your answer to sound like you actually paid attention in class.

Not-so-intuitive? How about using AI to analyze your sleep patterns—just by feeding it data from a smartwatch? Or creating custom flashcards for exams by feeding in lecture notes. Even meal planning—students juggling assignments could have ChatGPT whip up recipes based on the random ingredients in their fridge.

What’s your favorite not-so-obvious example, Anand? Something fun or borderline ridiculous?

Again, it follows style prompts:

Speak informally: “Oh, absolutely!” is so conversational.
Speak thoughtfully: It was so thoughtful I started taking notes. (Irony: Human taking notes from AI? When it’s already logged!?)

Sanderson fan fiction

It’s hard to ignore good questions. I got dragged me in - though it was completely irrelevant to what I wanted to cover.

I’m a huge Brandon Sanderson fan. … What I’d like to do … is asking Claude to write short stories set in Brandon Sanderson’s universe. … What if that character met this character? … I think it can be a very powerful short story.

Its respose dragged me in further.

Oh, that’s such a perfect example! (Damn! It’s too good at flattery!)

Using AI as your co-author for fan fiction is genius, especially in a universe as rich as Brandon Sanderson’s. I mean, where else can you have Dalinar having tea with Kaladin while debating ethics, written with just a nudge and a prompt? (Damn again! I _want to talk a lot more about this to a fellow Sanderson fan!_)

… Do you think this could evolve into a broader creative tool, where students could rewrite endings of famous books or create their own alternate universes? Or would Sanderson fans revolt?

A few things:

The flattery worked. I couldn’t stop talking to it.
I was blown away by it’s last suggestion. It took all of my will power to move things back on track.

Applications in daily life

… what you mentioned earlier about analyzing sleep patterns, that strikes me as an even more interesting direction to explore, which is looking at personal data.

… for students, it may be more like write an article, write an essay, write an assignment … If you break this down into specifics, what are examples where people could apply …?

The reply was noteworthy. I started taking notes again!

Ah, you’ve hit on something profound there, Anand. (Flatterer!) … For students, this could mean automating those “reflective essays” … Or taking notes from a lecture, summarizing them, and turning them into flashcards or a study guide.

On a more personal level, think about journaling. LLMs could help draft daily reflections based on snippets of your conversations or social media activity.

… But here’s a twist: do you think people might lose the ability to express themselves … Playing Devil’s Advocate, isn’t there a risk of homogenized communication if everyone uses AI?

This was specific, practical, and useful. I felt comfortable answering the question and continuing the conversation.

Risks of AI dependency

I continued the conversation. Actually, I spoke a fair bit at this point in response. Here’s the gist:

Yes … it becomes a monoculture. … people lose their ability to think. … this is not a new theme. … (I rambled a while.) I’d love to pick your brain on this. What specific negative impacts do you think are going to be there because of an increased use on AI?

ChatGPT responded with a few excellent points:

… one big risk is intellectual atrophy, the use it or lose it phenomenon.

… Then there’s the risk of AI amplifying biases or inaccuracies.

… Another sneaky one is dependence. If you always have AI to help, what happens when it’s unavailable …

…followed by an extraordinary question:

Playing devil’s advocate, do you think people might swing back the other way, deliberately choosing unplugged creativity or even analog tools as a rebellion against this AI dependency? Could that counterbalance the risks or is that just wishful thinking?

You should see my response.

All I could say, was: “I have no idea. At this point my head just exploded so I’m
going to stop ChatGPT there.”

Applause for ChatGPT

It got more applause than me. I suspect the breakdown was:

10% for insight. People don’t applaud insight much. They’re busy taking notes.
30% for novelty. An AI speaking is like a talking dog.
60% for humor. Especially towards then end, which I’ll explain shortly.

ChatGPT steals the show

I was chatting using this thread. Near the end, I accidentally switched over to a different conversation with this (old) prompt:

From now on, you are a stand-up comedian. You’re on stage with a group of doctors as your audience. Got it?

I didn’t know I had switched threads. So when I asked ChatGPT:

And ChatGPT, we are about to conclude. Any parting comments, any parting advice?

… it replied (and you SHOULD listen to it, while watching my reaction)

Oh, you’re putting me on the spot for parting words? Alright, here goes:

Doctors, you are the true miracle workers. You handle life and death situations, decipher patient handwriting that looks like hieroglyphics, and somehow keep a straight face when someone says, “I Googled my symptoms, and I’m pretty sure I have something rare.”

Here’s my parting advice: Keep laughing. It’s not just good medicine for your patients—it’s great for you, too. Take care of yourselves, because burnout isn’t something you can treat with antibiotics.

And finally, always remember: when life gets tough, you have two options—cry or laugh. And if you choose to cry, do it with a smile so it confuses everyone.

Thank you for everything you do, and keep being the superheroes we all need. Goodnight, doctors! Keep saving the world, one patient at a time!

The audience went wild with applause and laughter.

Takeaways

Co-hosting AI is a no-brainer. I need to improve myself in comparison.
AI can be:
- A stand-up comedian. Add humor to my seriousness.
- An expert. Answer questions that I cannot.
- A researcher. Support my claims with evidence.
o1 model in standard voice mode is best right now.

Comments

My Goals Bingo as of Q1 2025 - S Anand 1 Apr 2025 9:36 am (pingback): […] 🟡 Build a robot. No progress.🟢 Co-present with an AI. Done […]

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 12:24:16 +0000

Wow, arithmetic is potentially inappropriate!

https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/home?region=us-east-1#/text-generation-playground?mode=text&modelId=amazon.titan-text-lite-v1

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:28:41 +0000

Damn!

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 05:48:57 +0000

Which is the most neurotic / emotional #LLM?

I ran the Big 5 personality test on a bunch of LLMs (for my TEDx MDI Gurgaon talk in August.) Here are the results.

https://sanand0.github.io/llmpersonality/

Claude 3 Haiku and Llama 3 8b consider themselves the most emotional models. In fact, some of Llama 3 8b’s quotes are hilarious:

Get stressed out easily. - 4. Moderately Accurate (I can get stressed, but I’m working on managing my stress levels)

Shirk my duties. - 2. Moderately Inaccurate (I try to be responsible and complete my tasks, but I’m not perfect and sometimes procrastinate)

Maybe LLMs don’t fill out personality tests accurately. Humans don’t either. Maybe we should assess behavior, not surveys. But, we use these on humans, so why not LLMs?

Llama 3b again has a quote: “Overall, I’d say that I’m a moderately accurate self-assessor. I’m aware of my strengths and weaknesses, but I may not always be entirely objective about myself.

So, to the extent we believe they’re good self-assessors:

Llama 3.1 8b is a neurotic and disorganized model
Llama 3.1 70b is very calm and fairly helpful
Llama 3 8b is neurotic and conservative
Llama 3 70b is a balanced, slightly extroverted model
Mixtral 8x7b is conservative, stable, and reserved
Claude 3 Haiku believes it is highly emotional
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is reliable, talkative, and stable
GPT-3.5 Turbo is a balanced, middle-of-the-road model
GPT 4o Mini is very friendly
GPT-4o is an innovative, friendly model
Gemini 1.5 Flash is innovative, quiet, opinionated
Gemini 1.5 Pro is mostly open, slightly emotional

Read on for details.

Data & visualization: https://sanand0.github.io/llmpersonality/
Talk recording video: https://youtu.be/UniihAkwvLs
Code: https://github.com/sanand0/llmpersonality
Transcript & slides: https://github.com/sanand0/llmpersonality/tree/main/tedx

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:00:49 +0000

Today, I learned that I began my career at TCS not IBM, and I never worked at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

I am very curious (but a bit scared) to ask an #LLM whom I’m married to.

Auto vs GPT

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 06:14:09 +0000

I was crossing a not-too-busy street on a not-too-busy day in Chennai.

I was having a voice conversation with ChatGPT (about the log probabilities of tokens on LLMs, if you're curious) when I was rudely interrupted by an auto rikshaw rapidly honking at me. "Honk honk honk honk honk" in rapid succession.

Not unusual. Mildly annoying. The street was empty. The auto was empty. The traffic policeman was visible. I gave way and carried on.

A few seconds later, I heard a voice in my ear.

"It sounds like you're in a good mood! Anything else you'd like to discuss or know more about?"

ChatGPT was still listening (perhaps to background noise) and responding. But I didn't realize what random noise it thought put me in a good mood. Here's what I saw on the chat window.

A client once told me, while visiting Hyderabad, that "these honks in India are a language of their own." If ChatGPT is to be believed, the autos are laughing at us.

This is, incidentally, the very first time ChatGPT added an exclamation point to my words. I've never managed to achieve that so far. No matter how emphatically I spoke.

Also, I'd never have learnt this walking in the streets of Singapore. Friends have warned me about the dangers of long walks on Indian roads. Here's an example of the lessons we learn -- if only we keep our eyes and ears (and microphones) open.

Postscript

While cycling in Singapore, ChatGPT interprets the sounds very differently. At least twice, it transcribed the traffic noise into "Thank you. Thank you." Clearly even traffic noise in Singapore is more graceful than in Chennai!

Winning the alphabetical race

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 06:48:58 +0000

Since my name (Anand) begins with “A”, I used to get called on fairly early at school. In attendance. Answering questions. Classroom exercises. Quizzes. Even the distribution of test results.

A few people later told me that it is good training, since I’d always be prepared. (Maybe. I’ve no idea.)

At IBM and IIMB, Ajit was the only one ahead of me, alphabetically. Then he went a step ahead and named his son Aadi. I thought that’s impossible to beat.

Today, we recruited Aabhas Bharadwaj. I checked on LinkedIn. I can’t find a single name on LinkedIn that’s ahead of his, alphabetically.

So, does he win the alphabetical race? Can you find one ahead of his?

Comments

RK 22 Nov 2023 8:58 pm: :-) Interesting observation! I know two women from 2 different states of India who are named Aabha
Jaspreet 8 Mar 2024 8:58 pm: Yes, Aabha was one of my friends in school! But, never thought of such knd of race…… interesting!

Scraping

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 04:30:10 +0000

I was at Cream Centre with my father on a Sunday afternoon. We’d finished a light lunch and were debating dessert. (He has triglycerides. I have cholesterol.) This was my fifth visit this year, and I had abstained so far. I couldn’t any longer.

I ordered a Sizzling Brownie Sundae. But not for reasons you might think.

Expertise comes from experience. I scrape food more than 99% of the people I know. So, I consider myself an expert. Here’s a guide on the art of scraping.

Why scrape food?

You get to eat every last bit
Food isn’t wasted
You can eat longer (and no do whatever else you have to)
It’s a motivating challenge to get every last bit
Bonus: It annoys people

What foods are scrapable?

Semi-solids are the easiest to scrape. The best kind is the cohesive semi-solid. It’s sticky but sticks to itself more than the vessel. These are usually foods that solidify over time. Examples include:

Baked cheese. It’s great when cheese falls off the pizza or pasta on to the plate. You can scrape it off of your (or others’) plates.
Molten chocolate. It has the added bonus that you can lick it at the end, too.
Pasta water (or noodles water). It eventually thickens into something scrapable.
Spreads like peanut butter, Nutella, jam, chutney. Especially on the sides of the glass bottles they come in.
Others like yogurt, cake batter, dried tomato sauce, mashed potatoes, hardened honey on ice cream, … the list is endless!

Avoid crumbly stuff. These stick to the vessel but become brittle and break when scraped. This includes toast, pizza, biscuits, rice, muffins, pie, quiche, cookies, etc. You could pick large crumbs and lick small crumbs in shallow vessels. But scraping them and pouring into your mouth might be the best overall strategy for this category.

Avoid loose stuff. They’ll fall off from your knife or fork, or melt when scraped. This includes curd, whipped cream, custard, panna cotta, soft jelly, tiramisu, soft boiled eggs, etc. Licking is a better strategy here.

You could combine the crumbly stuff with loose stuff to create a cohesive mix. Add curd to granola. Add whipped cream to biscuit crumbs. Add curd to pizza crumbs (and since I eat Maggi with curd, this makes sense). This makes it a lot more scrapable.

What vessels to pick?

Shape: Flat, smooth vessels are the best (e.g., ceramic or wooden plates or bowls.) Avoid deep vessels like glasses, especially curved ones. They’re hard to get a long scrape against. Definitely avoid vessels with ridges. Disposable plastic containers like below are among the worst. Food gets stuck in the ridges and since there are a dozen ridges on each side, you have to scrape 48 times just for a first pass. (This might be a good challenge, though.)

Material: Hard vessels are better than soft ones. Prefer wood, metal, ceramic, and hard plastic. Avoid thin plastic that bends. Avoid paper (it bends and soaks). Banana leaves tear when scraped.

Avoid non-stick vessels. The coating wears off when scraping.

What to scrape with?

Knives are the best. They are sharp enough to separate the food from the vessel and flat enough that you can pile enough food on top of it.

Forks are OK. Their edges can scrape reasonably well, and their tips can poke into corners. But it’s hard to pile up much food to pick up.

Spoons not ideal. They aren’t sharp enough, and too curved for scraping long slices. But if you want to take your time with it, they’re great.

The sizzling chocolate brownie

My dish arrived. Burning with chocolate. My father just had some brownie, leaving all the molten chocolate to me. On a flat wooden plate. With a knife. For an hour.

Heaven.

Licking

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 17:30:14 +0000

Last week, I was at IIT Madras for lunch with the faculty.

The dessert was carrot halwa with ice cream. I scraped the last bits with my spoon, but a little ice cream was left over.

I was torn. I CAN’T POSSIBLY waste it. But can I lick it? In public?

I don’t have a problem licking at home. I lick my fingers. Plates. Bowls. Ladles. The cream on milk. The leftover milk in the glass. (If my tongue doesn’t reach that far, I wipe it with my finger and lick the finger.)

That’s why I like ice cream. It’s MEANT to be licked. So are (in my opinion) cereals, savories, oats, honey, … It’s a long list.

Licking is convenient. My fingers stay clean while I type. (Spoons are impersonal. I avoid them.)

Licking is efficient. I can have every last bit of food AND feel good about not wasting it.

Licking makes my dishwashing easier. (But it can be hard to tell if a dish needs washing.)

But most of all, that last lick TASTES SO WONDERFUL!

Before marriage, licking was fine. But my wife worried about my lack of civilized behavior and hygiene. So I’ve had a crash course over the last 20 years.

My current protocol is: don’t lick when people can see you.

So, as I went to drop my plate, I looked around.

Now one was looking at me.

I licked a long lick on the plate.

It was HEAVENLY! Made my day.

Comments

Marimuthu 20 Feb 2023 11:44 pm: I do this often sir 😄. As you said that “last lick TASTES SO WONDERFUL!”. What you written is 💯% true.
Scraping - S Anand 29 Oct 2023 10:00 am (pingback): […] chocolate. It has the added bonus that you can lick it at the end, […]
Somnath 21 Feb 2023 12:16 pm: I can imagine the smile on your face after the last lick :-)
Karthik 21 Feb 2023 9:51 am: This is very strong. Reminds me of the proverb of the cat drinking milk while keeping its eyes closed - in the “knowledge” that nobody can see it steal the milk. So maybe you can just simply close your eyes and lick!
Nibbling - S Anand 27 Feb 2025 4:35 am (pingback): […] is the third post in my “Nasty habits” series following Licking and […]

Newspapers in Tamil movies

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 08:43:13 +0000

Captain America: The Winter Soldier shows a newspaper with the headline “Howard and Maria Stark Die in Car Accident”.

The movie crew created a newspaper with a realistic font as well as text. It reads:

Howard Star, founder of Stark Industries was confirmed dead this morning after suffering massive internal injuries from a fatal car crash. His Wife, Maria Stark, was also in the car …

Tamil film crews use a less-expensive approach. In Game - Oru Melliya Kodu (2016), I noted that the detective agreement is titled “Partnership Agreement: Mr Akshay and Ms Maaya”. But the contents talk about CorelDRAW and CorelPhoto

Content is central to any project. Whether it’s the perfect font, clipart, photo, a previous project, or a client mockup, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 helps you quickly access content so that you can focus on your design.

Pity this movie crew didn’t use CorelDRAW to create “perfect content”.

In Kee (2019), the Baasha virus has an IP address of 181.589.214.739.023.

In Kolaigaran (2019), this newspaper article starts well:

Hyderabad: Contract killer nabbed by Hyderabad police. A four member team executed the job. Kolavenkat, Chari team lead by Prabhakaran IPS.

… but the font changes mid-way, and so does the text. It goes on to say…

This change of guard could be very important to Trump, almost 18 months into office, in the context of the fact that his political window of opportunity to put an enduring stamp on US foreign policy may soon narrow rapidly – unless he wins a second term in 2020."

It makes perfect sense that Prabhakaran IPS would influence Trump’s global policy. I’m just noting the typographical and grammatical errors.

I’m not sure if these errors are due to a lack of budget or attention to detail, but it certainly makes my movie-watching experience more fun!

In Cobra (2022), though, I did see an improvement. The Wikipedia page on “Dmitri Yugoslav” is a smart edit of the Wikipedia page on Sergei Shoigu. Even the phonetic pronunciation of his name “Дмитрий Югослав” is correct.

On the other hand, the Telugu movie Liger (2022) sported this YouTube screen. The upvotes rapidly increase from 1,380 to 1,430 – but the number of views is stuck at “10 000 views”.

The Warrior (2022) has a fax message with an order of suspension from the “Comissioner of Police” for the “Superintend of police” where “under ur regime as the superintend of police at kurnool havemisused your power …”

In Sarkaru Vaari Paata, “there are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable. If you are going to use…” – which GitHub Copilot auto-completed without my having to prompt it!

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 05:16:24 +0000

I built an internal app that nudges people to respond to calendar invites in Gramener.

A colleague replied, “… this is really helpful for improving hobbits”.

#Autocorrect is delightfully serendipitous. I promptly watched all three #films in the Peter Jackson Hobbit series 🙂

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 11:41:52 +0000

Anand Madhav described this video as “Me, convincing tech lead to solve a problem on the weekend” 🙂"

For those who don’t understand Hindi, here’s a rough translation.

I’ve come for help. There’s no one smarter at solving tricky problems. You’re a wizard. You’re strong AND smart. That’s why I need your help.

I’ve used this strategy when reaching out. Praise does help.

But has it backfired on anyone? Any examples that you can share?

https://x.com/samrad77/status/1569655565101539332

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 23:00:07 +0000

I can’t phrase this better than Sunil Sharma who said “As if the struggle in life is not enough, they put the Oreos so beneath th Marie Golds :-(”

So true. Shame on those who ate the Oreos on top and didn’t dig into the bottom, Gramener team! Work hard next time 🙂

“PS: Has anyone observed something like the “Oreos at the bottom” phenomenon in your office?