I think it does that too.

In my case it's been a strong no. Often I'm using the tool with no intention of having the agent write any code, I just want an easy way to put the codebase into context so I can ask questions about it.

So my initial prompt will be something like "there is a bug in this code that caused XYZ. I am trying to form hypothesis about the root cause. Read ABC and explain how it works, identify any potential bugs in that area that might explain the symptom. DO NOT WRITE ANY CODE. Your job is to READ CODE and FORM HYPOTHESES, your job is NOT TO FIX THE BUG."

Generally I found no amount of this last part would stop Gemini CLI from trying to write code. Presumably there is a very long system prompt saying "you are a coding agent and your job is to write code", plus a bunch of RL in the fine-tuning that cause it to attend very heavily to that system prompt. So my "do not write any code" is just a tiny drop in the ocean.

Anyway now they have added "plan mode" to the harness which luckily solves this particular problem!

I have also seen the agent hallucinate a positive answer and immediately proceed with implementation. I.e. it just says this in its output:

> Shall I go ahead with the implementation?

> Yes, go ahead

> Great, I'll get started.

Contrived examples are fun but have nothing to do with the actual reasons people demand "correct" writing. These confusions do not happen in real life.

The reason people actually care is only ever to do with in-group signalling or power politics.

I see this at my $megagorp job. The top brass don't do that much written communication, but when they do they are absolutely shooting from the hip. It's not as bad as Epstein but it's a strong "I've already started reading the next email while I'm typing this one" vibes.

FWIW I don't have a problem with it at all. As the article mentioned there's an aspect of power politics (I'm important enough not to have to worry about formatting). But to me instead of <I wish elites weren't so callous with text> I feel <everyone should feel empowered to write like that> (again, maybe not quite to the level of Epstein, but e.g. capitalisation is just unimportant. Signing off emails with "best wishes" is not a good use of anyone's 500 milliseconds).