this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
68 points (80.9% liked)
Technology
87649 readers
3024 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Took this from ChatGPT when I asked it about it
The important distinction is “trained to believe” versus “configured to answer as though it believes.” A model doesn’t necessarily have a private belief system. You can make two instances of essentially the same underlying model produce substantially different answers by changing their instructions, training data, reward criteria, or information sources.
For example, you could create three AI systems and give all three the question:
“Should the government provide universal healthcare?”
One could be optimized around libertarian principles, another around social-democratic principles, and another instructed to provide a politically neutral analysis. They could all know essentially the same facts while reaching different conclusions because they’re being asked to evaluate those facts using different frameworks.
There is also a more subtle issue: belief-curated AI doesn’t have to contain obvious propaganda. Selection of which facts to emphasize, which uncertainties to mention, which counterarguments to steelman, and even what questions it considers relevant can systematically push users toward a particular worldview.
The models I have worked with have user configurable base instructions, so you can "train" your AI to answer like Ghandi crossed with Martin Luther King, or to channel MechaHitler.