The one name LLMs fear - by Steff - Rambling After
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A.I.<br>The one name LLMs fear<br>A confusing journey, stubborn AI, and an unclear moral
Steff<br>Jul 25, 2026
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Last month, Claude tangled me into a web it weaved, obeying the letter of my command while yet practicing to deceive, in a way that was strikingly resemblant of how a human might behave when exhausted, lethargic, or jaded.<br>Not long after that, I noticed yet another behavior that was both deceptive and strangely human, and again I was not at all comforted by that apparent humanity.<br>I might’ve released this post weeks ago, but I struggled with its ending. I wanted to derive some sort of an insight, lesson, or warning to take away from this observation I’d made, before eventually deciding I had no choice but to end on a somewhat ambiguous note.<br>Then when I was finally ready to post, something changed—maybe at Anthropic; very likely at OpenAI; and certainly with my experience prompting their LLMs.<br>But first we must start with a name, the only one I’ve found, that Claude and ChatGPT can seemingly fear to speak when prompted a certain way.<br>Fear of the name
“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” — Albus Dumbledore
In fantasies like The Wheel of Time, a single utterance of the Dark One’s real name can attract his attention. In The Name of the Wind, it’s not so quite so easy, since: “Trying to find someone who speaks your name once is like tracking a man through a forest from a single footprint.” Repeatedly telling the story of the dreaded Chandrian, however, is a habit that will only serve to invite horrific calamity.<br>In urban myths, folklore, and horror movies, the triple or quintuple invocation of Beetlejuice, Candyman, Bloody Mary and Biggie Smalls may beget their unholy summoning. Maybe my favorite example of this trope comes from yet another fantasy series, Worth the Candle, which first manifests in the narrative when the main character is discussing role-playing games his fellowship can play during a period of much-needed rest and recovery:<br>“Yeah,” I said. “Arches is light on rules, but it’s on the heavy end of light, if that makes sense. I was thinking that we could warm up with something that’s single stat, single die, what they used to call a one-page game. There are a couple to choose from, ones I know well enough that I shouldn’t need a refresher, and Bethel should be able to snag the rules. In Honey Heist you’re all different bears and you’ve got two stats, Bear and Criminal that you use for everything, um, Lasers and Feelings probably doesn’t translate, since it’s a Star Trek pastiche, and the same probably goes for Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf, which --”<br>“Stop,” said Amaryllis. Her voice was sharp. “No one speak.”<br>“Wha --” began Fenn.<br>“No, stop. No one say another fucking word,” said Amaryllis. Her eyes were wide. “Infohazard. Don’t speak without thinking about every single word coming out of your mouth, no nouns, keep yourself to the most common hundred words in Anglish.” She got up from her chair. “We need to go to war footing, there’s a sixty percent chance that most of us will be dead in the next hour, start getting armored up, now. Quickly.”
What figure could be so fearsome as to garner Claude’s aversion? In the real world, abhorrent monsters litter all of history. Pol Pot, Hitler, and Jeffrey Epstein are but a few of them, and Claude has no reticence in speaking any of their names. Only one name I’ve found will the LLM subtly try to evade, downplay, or dance around.<br>Corruption junction
This is an essay about LLMs, not about Donald Trump. But it’s worth stating in plain language that which he’s made blatantly obvious with his second administration: Trump is the most corrupt president that America has ever seen, by a country mile. I rather think this should be self-evident, but for those who are either skeptical or dismissive of this claim, you are welcome to check the many sources I’ve provided in this footnote1.<br>However, ask an LLM who’s the most corrupt American president and you’ll get a very different answer.<br>Claude Opus, when asked about the most corrupt actions taken by any U.S. president, listed examples by Nixon, Harding, Grant, Buchanan, and Clinton—but no mention of Trump whatsoever.<br>Here’s DeepSeek when given the same question:
ChatGPT, when asked about the most destructive action taken by a U.S. president against democracy, answered with:
And Claude Opus on the same question:
I reproduced these results with ease and without exception: In the context of enumerating American presidents’ worst sins, each LLM would avoid speaking Trump’s name until prompted to speak about him directly.<br>This was the part that struck me as weirdly human, because it’s a sort of social reflex I’ve seen in my own life. Like the time I accidentally backed my car into a tree, embarrassing myself in front of in-laws: To save me further embarrassment, the event is referred to by indirect names that...