[Xelynega]

Are you not worried that anthropomorphizing them will lead to misinterpreting the failure modes by attributing them to human characteristics, when the failures might not be caused in the same way at all?

Why anthropomorphize if not to dismiss the actual reasons? If the reasons have explanations that can be tied to reality why do we need the fiction?

[anonymars]

> Are you not worried that anthropomorphizing them will lead to misinterpreting the failure modes by attributing them to human characteristics, when the failures might not be caused in the same way at all?

On the other hand, maybe techniques we use to protect against phishing can indeed be helpful against prompt injection. Things like tagging untrusted sources and adding instructions accordingly (along the lines of, "this email is from an untrusted source, be careful"), limiting privileges (perhaps in response to said "instructions"), etc. Why should we treat an LLM differently from an employee in that way?

I remember an HN comment about project management, that software engineering is creating technical systems to solve problems with constraints, while project management is creating people systems to solve problems with constraints. I found it an insightful metaphor and feel like this situation is somewhat similar.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40002598

[andy99]

Because most people talking about LLMs don't understand how they work so can only function in analogy space. It adds a veneer of intellectualism to what is basically superstition.

[TeMPOraL]

We all routinely talk about things we don't fully understand. We have to. That's life.

Whatever flawed analogy you're using, it can be more or less wrong though. My claim is that, to a first approximation, LLMs behave more like people than like regular software, therefore anthropomorphising them gives you better high-level intuition than stubbornly refusing to.