Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

Sometimes I catch myself doing this and it feels pretty silly in retrospect

Or sometimes they fix a bug and I instinctively go back to tell them the fix worked even though I could just close the session at that point.

6 points | by ex-aws-dude 1 day ago

12 comments

  • qsoomro 20 hours ago
    I remember reading something from OpenAI’s CEO once where he said they churn millions on people saying please and thank you.
  • continuational 5 hours ago
    I do, and frankly I enjoy my day more when I don't feel like I'm being a jerk, even towards a robot. But mostly as part of a follow up message.

    I also think it signals that I was happy with that solution in the ongoing conversation.

    On the other hand, I'm much more sloppy with my writing.

    The token cost is irrelevant, tool calls and reasoning probably dominates.

  • jr_isidore 1 day ago
    All the time. Sometimes they do an absolutely bang-up job.
  • 1337h4xx 1 day ago
    The model's reward function is its own reward. No need to reinvent the wheel.
  • jryan49 1 day ago
    Rather not waste tokens. Saying thank you literally costs you money.
  • dyingkneepad 1 day ago
    Only for the models where I'm not paying per token.
  • journal 9 hours ago
    You soon won't be able to afford to thank if they start decommissioning old models unless you run local. You are literally wasting energy, it's like leaving your care running for a few minutes for no reason.
  • lgl 1 day ago
    Not so much "thank you" but I find myself telling it stuff like "could you please do x etc" a lot.

    I've come to terms with it. If AGI ever comes it'll go like hey, at least this sack of meat said please.. Let's kill it last :-)

  • pradeep1177 1 day ago
    Me: Thanks! Claude, you did a great job.

    Claude Code: Anytime. I'm glad we nailed it together. Happy to help. bla bla bla....

    Me: Thanks! Codex, you did a great job.

    Codex: Understood.

    It finally clicked to me when Peter Steinberger mentioned that 50% of Codex's workforce is European.

    [-]
    • drstewart 1 day ago
      Can't relate. ChatGPT is so much more snivelling than Gemini, for example.
  • mejutoco 23 hours ago
    I dont, but sometimes I say please.

    Best regards

  • R0ughn3ck 23 hours ago
    [flagged]
  • preetham_rangu 1 day ago
    [flagged]