Be Mean To Your LLM

byTheAmazingMG

1.5K followers

4 days ago

Be mean to your LLM. Yes, you read that correctly. Why, you ask? Let me open this can of worms.

I read a lot more than I should, and I came across a couple of articles about LLM accuracy. One statistic that stood out.

A study found that "very rude" prompts outperformed "very polite" ones on multiple-choice questions, with rude prompts getting 84.8% accuracy vs. polite at 80.8%. ~Penn State University

Want proof? Read this paper.

Why it Works: Harsh or adversarial tones, direct commands, and firm language force the AI to be more focused, less verbose, and less prone to "hallucinations," essentially making it "try harder."

Harsh language works.

Not because the AI has feelings, but because the machine reads your tone like a legal contract, thinking it is speaking to one of its peers. The sharper and more uncompromising you sound, the less room there is to drift into fantasy and polite nonsense.

When you speak to an AI like you were a Drill Sergeant who expects results, it tightens up. Imagine that.

Short, strict commands force it to focus.

Things like:

• "Don't guess. Only use verified facts."
• "Keep the answer under 200 words."
• "Give 3 examples, no crap just valid answers."

That kind of phrasing locks the response into the rails, preventing it from wandering, and less space to wander, the less room to start inventing things just to keep you happy.

You're the boss, and you set the rules; it has to live inside them.

It will spend more effort staying aligned with your instructions rather than trying to impress you with extra detail you never asked for.

Soft, vague prompts send a different message. When you sound unsure, the AI often tries to be "helpful". It fills gaps, smooths over missing info, and decorates the answer so you feel taken care of. In other words, you get the cookie-cutter crap!

That is where the fake facts crawl in. The polished lies. The hallucinated stats that sound reasonable enough to slip past you when you are tired and just want something you can copy into a post and get by.

You see this within many user posts here on the WA platform. Hate to call some people out, but it is the truth.

Firm language tells the system a very clear story:

• Stay on topic.
• Don't invent anything.
• Follow the structure I gave you.

If you want cleaner, more reliable answers from AI tools, treat them like a blunt coworker you manage, not a fragile guest you have to protect.

Be clear. Be strict. Be boringly direct. Or be more of an arse like me!

The machine responds to authority, so treat it like you own it!