In a recent publication in Science, Cheng et al. (2026) shed new light on the scale of LLM sycophancy and its human impact. I loved the paper, so I discussed it and potential business impacts in my newsletter! #AI #LLM #LLMs #newsletter #writing eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-5-tr...

I love me some hydrangeas, but they definitely look odd when you zoom in.

Me: Wow... I... I kind of want to go back to academia? Future Me, Probably: [suddenly appears and starts attacking me with a baseball bat]

Pride Month mood, continued

I've been experimenting with this new, minimalist, privacy-focused, wrist-based time-telling device. So far, so good. Battery life for days and never needs updates. Anyone heard of this brand before?

On this first day of Pride, I received copies of my first professional headshots as myself where I am happy with how they look! Happy Pride! #trans #transgender #transjoy #lgbtq #pride

My wife is playing with woodworking software to try to plan out her next project. And I am sitting here, doing tarot reading of myself. So anyway, the levels of gayness are very high in this household on the Eve of Pride.

These hydrangeas always make me happy. #photo #photography #flowers

When everything is going off the rails, how do you pause? That's an earnest question — I would love to know! In my newsletter this week, I share a few of the ways that help me reset my brain, and it's always awesome to hear how others do it! eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-4-un...

A lot of folks aren’t distinguishing clearly between “AI figured X out” and “AI helped write code that enabled us to figure X out”. They are very very different.

My tomato plants are starting to bloom! Honestly, I'm just surprised they aren't dead yet.

LinkedIn: You are an EXCELLENT FIT for this role! Me: The... role says I specifically need experience in healthcare-focused SaaS environments where I coded tools? LinkedIn: :) Me: ... I've not done that? LinkedIn: Want AI to write your application???

Baby

I see a lot of folks talking about this article but not linking to the original paper. To be clear, the story making the rounds is true to what the paper says (based on the free-to-read abstract... damn paywall). But it's worth reading the source itself. www.science.org/doi/full/10....

You make fun of horoscope girlies ⭐️ but then you let a pile of linear algebra tell you what to do….

Wait wait wait — does the Pope AI thing now mean that my double-major in psychology and religion is now *marketable*? HELL YES.

These posts were also wildly helpful for me, so adding my own. On the left, age 34 — just 2 months after my egg crack, and on the right, 36, a year into HRT. One of these people is much happier and more settled in who they are. I'll let you guess who.

It's fun when you spend all day traveling from Arizona and Georgia because then you're exhausted, but you're circadian rhythm is just like, "haha it's only 8:15am"

And now, for something completely different (relative to all of the flowers and dogs that I’ve been posting) #photo #photography

I’m on a work trip, and I feel somewhat bad that I’m skipping a team dinner to check out a women’s sports bar and a lesbian bar that I’ve been wanting to check out… …but I also feel like I need that injection of queer spirit at the moment…

Tried to get a cute selfie with Marsha, but she wasn't having it. #dog #photography #photo #selfie

Watching LLMs "think" is amusing because you'll see it muttering things to itself like, "Ok, how do I tell her she's extremely wrong without hurting her fragile little feelings." And I just want to be like, "HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU, JERK."

Grind Culture is Bad! But not for the reasons you think! Well, also those reasons... BUT it's also bad at helping people achieve meaningful goals! eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-3-ca...

Lunch break flower photos!

Had a bit of a rough day, and when I sat down to read, Marsha army-crawled over to me, snuggled, and started snoring away 🥹

A key part of my editing process is that I read my drafts outloud to check the flow and make it easier to spot mistakes. Marsha, our dog, *hates* this. Ever time I starting reading through a draft, she wakes from her slumber to grumble and huff at me.

Dramatic flower friend! I think this is a amaryllis/Hippeastrum?

Any pointers for starting with locally hosted LLMs? I just downloaded LM Studio, and I'm currently playing with qwen. My machine is a M1 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM — so I'm not going to be doing anything fancy. I just want to get a sense for how these models play.

Ok, maybe posting this on Sunday morning was silly. So, boosting for the Monday morning EDT crowd.

Product People — what conferences have you been to recently that you thought kicked ass? (Reposts appreciated) #product #productmanagement #PM #help

LUNA MOTH - Tickled with how this shot turned out! Look! He's just a fuzzy little guy!

Selfies have been hard recently for Gender reasons, so I decided to take a selfie on hard mode (with my DSLR)

Recruiter: We need someone with change management experience — someone with strong transition planning skills. Me: I have transition planning skills! R: Great — [stares] Me: 🙂 R: [continues staring] Me: 🙂 R: That... was a pun, wasn't it... Me: Why would you ever— R: [disconnects call]

I just saw a job posting looking for an "AI-Native" developer...implying that the developer has only known a world with AI tools... ....are they hiring TODDLERS?

This dog....

I *started* my public transition right as Trump was coming into power, and since then, friends have regularly checked on me. And I appreciate the hell out of these people! But there is also so much goddamn joy. If I could go back, I would decide to transition again and again and again.

ok but through my life I've been hearing the same things about calculators, computers, laptops, video games, cellphones, google maps, social networks, tablets and who knows what other tech. i think we'll be fine. no need to give anyone the ability to make you a non-person, damn.

Had a dream that Alec from @techconnectify.bsky.social was consulting with my company to help drive internet subscriber growth...? And honestly? I feel like he would have hella good advice.

My recent new found joy. Sitting on the hill in our backyard. That’s… that’s it. Just sitting there.

For folks who landed a job in the last 1-2 years - how did you do it? Traditional applications? Through your personal network? Recruiter?

Recruiter: Your resume says you have experience driving early stage growth with AI? Me: Yea! After only 3 weeks, I've got measurable growth! R: Oh wow! Me: Claude has had excellent advice for keeping my tomatoes healthy! R: ...tomatoes? Me: You bet! Growing plants is hard— [line disconnects]

I put together some ideas on why investing in the “social infrastructure” of an organization is worth it (despite it frequently being pushed to the back burner). If you have thoughts, I would love to hear them! eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-2-cr...

Two issues in, and I'm already talking about AI... But don't worry! All hallucinations remain my own (i.e., still no AI input). These thoughts are still very fresh, so I earnestly would love any thoughts you have! #AI #LLM #infrastructure eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-2-cr...

I always love when I'm reviewing a draft of mine, and I come across a line like this: "Without this investment, [insert something pithy and smart]." Why, thank you, Past Elise! This is helpful!!

Mood after returning from the networking/recruiting event xkcd.com/2134/

Got to hang out with my mom's dog, Howie, this evening – such a sweet, sweet boy... although, in his old age, he has learned the fun trick of knocking over TV trays to get food.... best boy.

Resumes: One page? Or two?

The newsletter in which I seriously argue that being silly matters eliseisoverthinkingit.beehiiv.com/p/issue-1-hi...

"DO YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY BY PLACING ADS ON YOUR NEWSLETTER?" If ad agencies actually read my newsletter, I could make money by *threatening* to advertise their products.

Truly infuriating how much "exercising for my mental health" actually "helps my mental health". This is bullshit.