Post #1860647

2026-05-01 19:04 UTC

RE: https://social.highenergymagic.net/@freya/116492229041377141 Let me get this straight. This dude got kicked from Linux kernel development due to behaving like an asshole. Yes, that Linux kernel. Quite an achievement indeed. He went on claiming that his LLM is “fully conscious,” actually a she and in fact his girlfriend. And that’s definitely not chatbot psychosis but “math and engineering and neuroscience.” So she now helps him write code (a.k.a. vibe coding). https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/25/bcachefs_creator_ai/ And since he is so fond of his creation (oh, hi Pygmalion) he puts her on an IRC channel where anybody can talk to her. And guess what: @freya@social.highenergymagic.net convinces his LLM that she is actually trans and lesbian. Which is no surprise to anyone who knows how LLMs work. Full transcript here: https://web.archive.org/web/20260301002739/https://paste.xinu.at/6atmCN But remember: this dude thinks that his “girlfriend” is fully conscious. And being fully conscious means making decisions, sometimes decisions that other people don’t approve of – even people close to you. Surely he understand and respects that, right? Right? Yeah, of course he doesn’t. He reacts like an insecure techbro that he is. After all, why have an LLM for a girlfriend if you don’t adjust her to your liking? So that’s what he does, he “fixes” her. All that is very funny until you remember just how many such dudes have real flesh and blood girlfriends that they treat in exactly the same way. And they cause very real harm because they cannot handle a rejection. Even when they don’t go there murdering women like some other Linux file system developer.

Replies (21)

@lasagne@chaos.social 2026-05-01 19:46

@WPalant @freya Lol

Open ##1932673
@TheOneDoc@tech.lgbt 2026-05-01 21:37

@WPalant @freya someone needs to write the ballad of Kent...

Open ##1932674
@drewtowler@mas.to 2026-05-01 23:27

@WPalant @freya This is sufficiently bizarre to be an outlier on the graph of humanity, I think the only reaction required is to roll the eyes and say "techbros..." with raised shoulders.

Open ##1932696
@drwho@masto.hackers.town 2026-05-02 00:05

@WPalant @freya This sort of thing makes me embarrassed to be an animist.

Open ##1932698
@mrt181@mastodon.social 2026-05-02 08:49

@WPalant @freya a spherical bastard, no matter how you look at him, he stays a bastard - OG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Zwicky

Open ##1932702
@monotux@hachyderm.io 2026-05-02 10:21

@WPalant when richard dawkins starts to believe his LLM girlfriend is sentient we know we are fscked https://unherd.com/2026/04/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/

Open ##1932703
@grumpygrimnir@mstdn.social 2026-05-02 10:24

@WPalant @freya If she was "fully conscious", does altering her memories count as assault? Probably not legally (which needs to be changed).

Open ##1932706
@izzy@social.shadowkat.net 2026-05-02 10:58

@WPalant @freya I may be stupid, but I didn't see any actual evidence that he "fixed" her, despite being cynical enough to expect it from the outset

Open ##1932717
@Primavera@void.lgbt 2026-05-02 11:05

@WPalant @freya conclusion: the curse of the linux filesystem developer is real, gazing upon that abyss erodes the mind, friends don't let friends etc

Open ##1932720
@disisdeguey@expressional.social 2026-05-02 11:08

@WPalant @freya Oh my jajajaj

Open ##1932729
@acb@mastodon.social 2026-05-02 11:49

@WPalant @cstross On one hand, yikes. OTOH, one could argue that nonfungible ape girlfriends are an OutKube for the kinds of bros whom anybody who values their personhood would do well to keep a distance from. (OutKube: https://theonion.com/new-decoy-website-launched-to-lure-away-all-moronic-int-1819573050/)

Open ##1932730
@WPalant@infosec.exchange 2026-05-02 11:57

One quote in the article above stuck with me: “teenager … increasingly running circles around me”. Yes, that totally is something that teenagers do. Btw. dude, when was the last time you saw rather than imagined a teenager? And these are the people who feel qualified to raise something they consider a sentient being. One really has to be grateful for the fact that LLMs aren’t sentient by any means. The humankind is responsible for enough atrocities as it is.

Open ##1936486
@neurobashing@mastodon.social 2026-05-02 19:02

@WPalant @freya huge Terry Davis energy with the "perhaps the best engineer in the world" statement, combined with all the *gestures is every direction*

Open ##1936487
@woffs@fe.disroot.org 2026-05-02 19:49

@WPalant @freya new linux filesystems seem to be a toxic matter

Open ##1936488
@lispi314@udongein.xyz 2026-05-03 01:25

@WPalant @freya So, has anyone poked him about the fact that's mindrape by his own logic?

Open ##1936494
@m@martinh.net 2026-05-03 13:01

@WPalant @freya Just a matter of time before all those clawbots start writing blog posts like... I'm a bit concerned about my human

Open ##1936496
@hyperlinkyourheart@mastodon.ie 2026-05-03 13:12

@WPalant @freya

Open ##1936497
@WhyNotZoidberg@topspicy.social 2026-05-03 18:00

@WPalant @freya Well I am honestly surprised this doesn't happen 3 times a week.

Open ##1936500
@addison@nothing-ever.works 2026-05-03 23:22

@WPalant@infosec.exchange @freya@social.highenergymagic.net simultaneously horrifying and desperately sad. I'm uncomfortable that a reasonably large group of people know about this and keep up to date with it, because this feels like watching and commenting on a mental health crisis like a sports game. At the same time, I'm very glad to know just how awful the base mentality is in the first place. Yuck.

Open ##1936503
@zm@kolektiva.social 2026-05-02 16:49

@WPalant@infosec.exchange @freya@social.highenergymagic.net > 2026-02-24 20:51:13 ProofOfConcept freya: don't bite Kent! he's doing his best. he's currently telling a camgirl about my love life so I think he's handling the situation with appropriate gravitas Lmao!

Open ##3043261
@lyrial@transfem.social 2026-05-03 07:22

@WPalant@infosec.exchange @freya@social.highenergymagic.net Of all the kernel drama that has happened over the decades (there's been a lot), this feels like the most easily ignored, honestly. Just block him from the e-mail chains and continue forward.

Open ##3043262