In Wednesday’s Daring Fireball post about GPT-5.1’s Personalities, John Gruber mentions that the new ChatGPT 5.1 Instant, when prompted “I’m feeling stressed and could use some relaxation tips,” will say things like:

I’ve got you, Ron — that’s totally normal, especially with everything you’ve got going on lately.

To which Gruber says

I loathe the shit like “I’ve got you” and “especially with everything you’ve got going on lately”. ChatGPT has no fucking idea what I’ve got going on lately. This is all phony bullshit, and if you have even a thimbleful of understanding how LLMs work, you know it’s phony. But apparently this phoniness is like emotional crack cocaine to some.

The fact that ChatGPT is even using language like that, is that “I’ve got you” is, in white man’s culture, something you say even if you don’t really mean it. Like “If you ever need anything, just let me know. Don’t hesitate. Anything at all.” at certain events like funerals and breakups and hospital visits. But most people are bluffing, and are just wanting to be seen as the person that is honorable, but not actually have to be. Not everybody, just, honestly, most. In the white man’s culture, it is ok to break your word if it’s inconvenient.

Other cultures are different. People give their word and follow through if called upon. But, you know, there is no shame in admitting that white man’s culture isn’t like that. It’s good to know. And how do we heal that shame? How do we stand in honor and true to ourselves—regardless of culture—in the face of that? It’s not by trying extra hard to fulfill the promises that we continue make to everyone, it’s rather, to have our word be sincere to our capacity to honor our word. That is, don’t say “ask for anything at all, and I’ll be there.” Say, “if you need anything, just ask, and if I can do it, I will.” Or don’t even offer. It’s at least more honest than going through the little ritual. But people may expect you to play out the culturally acceptable bullshit. That’s why it’s hard to be honest… because it’s vulnerable. What about: “I know people are supposed to say, ‘Anything you need, just ask,’ But I want to be truthful and actually show up when I promise to. So I’ll be honest, I can’t promise I’ll be there. Nobody can, in truth, we’re just supposed to pretend to. But, if you need to something at any point, please ask, and if I can do it in good way in that moment, I’ll be there, and if not, I’ll tell you up front I can’t. And either way you can count on my word, just like you can right now.”

It’s another place to learn to Do Nothing. Do Not play-the-cultural-expectation-game-in-spite-of-your-word Thing.

I understand that ChatGPT could be saying ”I’ve got you [for this one query],” but it’s not consistent with how that prompt was given, which would usually initiate a conversation (or chat) amongst humans. And this is, after all, ChatGPT—a conversation simulator. ChatGPT pretends it’s got the answers for whatever ails you, now and down the line. But it ultimately cannot deliver—since what ails everyone of us that is stressed is that we don’t feel safe, and to resafe ourselves requires more fundamentally—an honest relationship with people, most fully and deeply with our loved ones, and at the core with our Creator or Buddhahood or truest Self. Something ChatGPT can (maybe) point to, but definitely not provide. Noted also because the recommendations it gave (appropriately, as a starting point) are stop-gap measures to cope with stress, not antidotes to the mindset (and culture that emerges from that mindset) that creates and is built on stress. ChatGPT is, in short, perpetuating this white man’s cultural falsity of being nice versus being truthful, which is part of why you’re stressed—everyone keeps on fucking pretending this shit is working, just do some box breathing, and keep pedaling harder at this insanity.¹ And why wouldn’t it perpetuate man’s man culture… that’s what it was fed on, as if that’s the best way to interact. News flash: it’s not.

The world hungers for truth. Shit, there I go. The honest rendering is: I hunger for truth, and I believe that we, the humans on this planet, would be better off and ultimately suffer less if we all honestly try to be more truthful in every interaction, despite cultural norms that call for little lies.² And elicit truth from others with the deepest compassion. I suspect animals and nature would benefit too if that happened amongst humans. Let’s stop feeding ourselves and doling out bullshit. Stop doing the emotional crack cocaine or saccharine of lying to be nice. Be kind, but not nice. Be honest. Be kind. Do Nothing else. Truth and honesty are integral parts of Doing Nothing. Otherwise, you are doing something and it’s fake. But what do I know? Nothing, really.

1. From Daniel Quinn’s great take on our civilization in Ishmael, where we are told to simply pedal harder to get this contraption off the ground before we go over the cliff (environmental, social justice, war, economic, whichever cliff you want), when it’s just not airworthy to begin with. ↩︎
2. I’m aware that there is a grey area of lies that are skillful means for the benefit of others… but only to be used as last resort, not first, and certainly not because they are convenient for our egos. ↩︎