Why Marc Andreessen Is Facing Backlash Over an AI Prompt

American venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is facing criticism online after sharing a lengthy “custom prompt” for AI on X, with many users arguing that the post revealed not just a misunderstanding of how AI systems work, but also a growing Silicon Valley fantasy around what chatbots should become. 

In the now-viral post, Andreessen described AI as a “world class expert in all domains” and instructed chatbots to “never hallucinate or make anything up,” while also telling them to avoid moral guidance, political correctness, emotional sensitivity, or disclaimers. 

The prompt instructed AI systems to be “provocative, aggressive, argumentative, and pointed,” while insisting that “accuracy is your success metric, not my approval.” Andreessen also told the chatbot to “lead with the strongest counterargument” and avoid phrases like “great question” or “you’re absolutely right.” 

Critics quickly focused on what they described as contradictions in the prompt, particularly the instruction to “never hallucinate,” despite hallucinations being widely considered one of the core limitations of large language models rather than a problem that disappears because a chatbot is told not to do it.