Two prompting strategies to help deal with LLMs' tendency to agree with you.

· Bits and Bobs 10/6/25
  • Two prompting strategies to help deal with LLMs' tendency to agree with you.
    • LLMs have a bias towards confirming your position… which might mean you get bad results if you're wrong.
    • One pattern is the X-Not-X-Synthesis[f].
      • If you believe X to be the case, but don't want the LLM to just confirm your hypothesis.
      • Start one LLM session where you say "X. Is that true?"
      • Start another LLM session where you say "Not X. Is that true?"
        • Of course, you'd use a proper prompt to ask it to do research, consider pros and cons, etc.
      • Then, start a final session and pass the reports from both the X and Not-X session and ask it to give a final synthesis report about the correct answer.
    • Another way is the Auriga approach.
      • Auriga was the what the slaves were called who drove chariots in Rome.
      • When people who won the highest honor were paraded around the stadium, being cheered on by everyone, the Auriga would whisper in their ear: "remember, you are mortal."
        • A memento mori.
      • For working with LLMs, after every response, say "Are you really sure?"

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