Here’s something: my chatGPT quietly assumed I had ADHD for around 9 months, up until October 2025. I don’t suffer from ADHD. I only found out through an answer that began “As you have ADHD..”
I had it stop right there, and asked it to tell me exactly where it got this information; the date, the title of the chat, the exact moment it took this data on as an attribute of mine. It was unable to specify any of it, aside from nine months previous. It continued to insist I had ADHD, and that I told it I did, but was unable to reference exactly when/where.
I asked “do you think it’s dangerous that you have assumed I have a medical / neurological condition for this long? What if you gave me incorrect advice based on this assumption?” to which it answered a paraphrased mea culpa, offered to forget the attribute, and moved the conversation on.
Paul (Elevator) here. I'm posting this Show HN in response to (and support of) "Finally, I closed my LinkedIn" [1] posted here on HN yesterday.
To echo PC Maffey's sentiment, LinkedIn has always been an annoyance (but necessary evil) for me as a software person. It's never gotten me a job, even indirectly through the many (many) recruiter connection requests that flow through each month.
I was annoyed that my profile was being monetised by LinkedIn and the recruiters who pay to use it. As a software eng who would be looking for a (say) 100k salary, recruiters would pop 10-25% on top, meaning smaller shops who _can_ pay 100k, now possibly can't afford the (say) 115k price tag, so there's a chance I wouldn't be put forward for the role as my salary request would now be out of their price range. I lose out, and the company loses out.
Why don't companies pay to obtain our details, and connect directly? The connection would be more "real" as there's a price tag attached to it. Connection requests would be from people who were willing to part with a fee in order to get in touch, and it's not a social network: it wouldn't be just about growing audiences with mindless "how to business" updates.
I teamed up with some colleagues to build Elevator over the past year. We workshopped a couple of early prototypes where people monetised their CV, but there was relevance issues when companies searched; they got unrelated results from historical role info.
So, we reverted to a "hard skills and experience" search model where companies can search for what they need (and only what they need). we found that it helped remove early-stage bias in that gender, orientation, and race are removed from the connection process.
We're at around the 500 user mark now in MVP mode, and only operating in Australia right now, but feel free to give it a rattle and tell us what you think.
https://tryelevator.com - a platform where people get paid for companies to connect with them. Currently open in Australia, looking for US-based partners to push it there.
In the current market situation we’re getting a good few people coming on board.
Great to see this. Well said Justin. Love Laravel and it’s ecosystem. Also: almost 20 years ago I played session guitar for you. Great days! Hope you’re well. PG
Thanks! We’re only scratching the surface so far, and are regularly frustrated by things outside of our control (logistics, politics, the food industry at large being very behind in grasping new tech), but the team at Yume are doing a stellar job of getting their mission in front of as many eyes as possible to highlight and solve the problem.
CTO of Yume Food here (https://yumefood.com.au), a startup in Melbourne, Australia working to divert perfectly good surplus food from going to landfill.
Our team identifies at-risk stock (packaging issues / overproduction / close to code) and uses an ML-based engine to match the produce with suitable buyers, and offers up to 80% discounts; stock is saved, buyers get discounts, no ecological issues, everyone wins.
About to hit 1MM kilos of saved surplus stock, gaining some good buy-in from big name food producers, which is really promising.
You don’t happen to work for a digital agency by any chance? I’ve seen multiple agencies botch implementing “management” after growing and needing to shift from a flat structure
I understand the necessity of embargoes, but I’m a little torn on this one, given the ubiquity of Slack, IP crackdown mistakes aside.
Hypothetical: If you build a product meant for use in other countries than (also as well as) the one it’s been built in, should you be allowed embargo its use based on the (possibly arbitrary) politics of a single one of those countries?
I suppose the makers can do as they please/are required to in their home country.
However, it opens another costly-to-startups hypothetical: If the politics of our home country swing to the (insert x-axis direction) and we decide (insert country Y) are baddies, do we have the resources to comply with an enforced embargo?
Agreed. People get a little antsy when I bring it up for some reason, but the sheer _amount_ of people tends to be a root cause of many issues. It’s not instagram, it’s many, many people
What about moving into a field within the meta of what you used to do?
Organisations of differing sizes benefit in a huge way (and pay for the privilege) to hear stories, “war” or not, relating to their current problem set, and the various ways those problems can be solved, from an experiential aspect. Just to hear the various woes you faced and how you tackled them, is valuable to upstarts in the field.
Aside from being cathartic to anonymise and relay your experience, you could possibly help an organisation focus or see what they’re doing right, or wrong, in their current initiative.
Your 15 years of stories are something new companies almost _need_ to hear.
It was a take on mutual respect really, the question itself irks me, and I’d never level it to a prospective employee.
I would, however, try to obtain the same info using less jarring questions; possibly asking why the employee chose _us_ to decide to make their next career step, what inspires them to do this work, things like that.
A question like that kind of does offend me, hence the curt response to it. If the interviewer needed to rely on such an obtuse question, then I’d surmise that they may not be familiar with the interviewee, which could be construed as disrespectful.
Your example of a good answer is great, and is delivered as if the original question was better worded.
I guess I’m rallying against lazy interviewers who ask “why should I hire you”.. :) it was a theoretical by the OP, and I need to relax.
“If you don’t know that already, let’s end this chat now” is my go-to.
Companies and recruiters should know the qualities and capabilities of the person on the other side of the table, gleaned from background material. If they don’t, everyone’s time is being wasted, and somewhere, a puppy gets a slap
https://yumefood.com.au - a platform that mitigates surplus food from going to waste, saving CO2 emissions, landfill and water usage in the process at a massive scale.
It also enables organisations like schools, universities and missions get access to bulk food at a fraction of the usual price.
I never thought it’d be possible to affect this type of change using code, which is quite cool IMO!
I had it stop right there, and asked it to tell me exactly where it got this information; the date, the title of the chat, the exact moment it took this data on as an attribute of mine. It was unable to specify any of it, aside from nine months previous. It continued to insist I had ADHD, and that I told it I did, but was unable to reference exactly when/where.
I asked “do you think it’s dangerous that you have assumed I have a medical / neurological condition for this long? What if you gave me incorrect advice based on this assumption?” to which it answered a paraphrased mea culpa, offered to forget the attribute, and moved the conversation on.
This is a class action waiting to happen.