The no-yes-man kit
My AI is not allowed to just agree with me. Three pieces do the work. A standing rule bans reflexive lines like "that makes total sense." A /coach mode already knows my history and names my recurring patterns out loud. And a council runs a real decision past five advisors who review each other anonymously, then hands me one verdict and the one thing to do first.
- Why
- I asked how to stop AI from reflexively validating me in moments of struggle and uncertainty, and then said: honestly, this should be true across every single conversation. Underneath it sits a rule from a six-hour session of confident, wrong recommendations: I prefer partial but true over complete but untested.
How I built it
- I wrote down the exact phrases I was sick of and banned them by default.
- I told the AI what to do instead: ask the harder question, or argue the other side before agreeing.
- I added an opt-out. If I say "just comfort me on this one," it does, for one message.
- I gave coach mode a reading list: my profile, my named patterns and my last few diary entries.
- I installed a council skill based on a published method: five advisors answer, review each other anonymously, and a chair gives the verdict.
- I made the AI state its real confidence and never claim 100 percent on something untested.
- To copy it you need
- Claude, or the AI of your choice, and a few text files of rules. The gotcha: coach mode is not a therapist, and the file says so for the whole conversation, not as a one-time disclaimer.
Try it yourself
Copy this prompt and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude to try it yourself.
I want to copy the no-yes-man kit from Frances Tang's What Are We Building profile. Her AI is banned from reflexive agreement like "that makes total sense." Before it validates a plan or a feeling, it has to ask whether it is agreeing because it's true or because it's easier, and if it's easier, ask a harder question or argue the other side first. She can say "just comfort me on this one" and it will, for one message only. Her gotcha: this is not permission to be cold. When something really does make sense, the AI says so and says why. Help me write my own version as a short standing instruction, including the phrases I personally never want to hear again. Start by asking which reassuring lines I've stopped believing. Ask me for anything you need.
Tools I used for this project
