4 ms·

Can you share some of the tell-tale signs you pick up on? Edit: I see he's the CTO of an AI company.

johnfn 1y ago
It's never a slam-dunk with AI-generated content, but some of the signs I notice are: - Constant bulleted lists with snappy, non-punctuated items. - Single word sentences to emphasize a point ("It was disciplined. Technical. Forensic.") - The phrasing. e.g. the part about submitting to Reddit: "This response was disproportionate to the activity involved: a first-time technical post, written with precision, submitted to the relevant forum, and not yet visible to any other user." Who on earth says "written with precision" about their own writing? To be clear, I don't think it's a fabricated account. I also don't think it was a one-shot. OP probably iterated on it with GPT for quite some time.
appreciatorBus 1y ago
He’s already added an entry about the whole incident to his resume: https://lyons-den.com/CV/David_Lyon_CTO_CV_2025.pdf https://lyons-den.com/CV/David_Lyon_CTO_CV_2025.pdf EDIT: he has added three(!) separate mentions of the same incident to his résumé
- tczMUFlmoNk 1y ago
  At least it is helpfully located in the "Thought Leadership" section as an early flag for the reader.
- redleader55 1y ago
  This guy is obviously the most senior person in a small startup. To me personally, calling yourself a CTO with a CV entry that amounts to what an L5 in a FAANG does in a half, is a bit ridiculous. What title would HN recommend for such a position, instead?
  - icedchai 1y ago
    "Lead Engineer" usually suffices.
- encomiast 1y ago
  The whole site is sketchy. A PhD and a JD. All these high level positions at well-known places. A website with very vague claims about heroically saving things. Almost no google presence other than this site. And 4 LinkedIn connections. Maybe I'm just cynical, but it's pegging my BS meter.
  - dfedbeef 1y ago
    Nope, BS meter is correct. You can find the 2017 commencement documents for New York Law School online and David Lyon is not on the list of JD graduates...
    - encomiast 1y ago
      Interesting…both the linkedIn profile and the website appear to be gone.
      - paulc51 1y ago
        Archive.org did a round of saving his entire website, including the posts and "papers" just before it was taken down: https://web.archive.org/web/20250715045222/https://lyons-den.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250715045222/https://lyons-den... Interesting if the whole character was a scam. The current employer is not disclosed in his CV, qualifications are fake (also flagged on Reddit by someone who says they are an ex colleague https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1m0198c/comment/n3fiwkd/ https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1m0198c/comment/n3fiwk...) - what else?
  - dfedbeef 1y ago
    https://issuu.com/nylslibrary/docs/2017_commencement_program?e=0 https://issuu.com/nylslibrary/docs/2017_commencement_program... No David Lyon in there. It goes straight from Luncheon to Martinez and Lynch to Mackey for Graduates and Candidates, respectively. Page 35
- skeeter2020 1y ago
  >> Outdiagnosed L5 AWS engineers using Docker-based rebuilds, AL2023 parity, and deep forensic isolation. what a weird thing to brag about on your resume. And then he says "case study cited on ... HackerNews" - that's funny!
mrlatinos 1y ago
This has GPT written all over it: "That’s not just a runtime bug. That’s a reliability risk baked into the ecosystem." For whatever reason, it constantly uses rhetorical reclassification like “That’s not just X. That’s Y.” when it's trying to make a point. In GPT's own words: ``` ### Why GPT uses it so often: - It sounds insightful and persuasive with minimal complexity. - It gives an impression of depth by moving from the obvious to the interpretive. - It matches common patterns in blog posts, opinion writing, and analyst reports. ``` I think that last point is probably the most important.
- jaymzcampbell 1y ago
  That whole last section read like the constant dross I see posted on Linkedin. I find it hard to take anyone seriously that writes like that.

It's never a slam-dunk with AI-generated content, but some of the signs I notice are: - Constant bulleted lists with snappy, non-punctuated items. - Single word sentences to emphasize a point ("It was disciplined. Technical. Forensic.") - The phrasing. e.g. the part about submitting to Reddit: "This response was disproportionate to the activity involved: a first-time technical post, written with precision, submitted to the relevant forum, and not yet visible to any other user." Who on earth says "written with precision" about their own writing? To be clear, I don't think it's a fabricated account. I also don't think it was a one-shot. OP probably iterated on it with GPT for quite some time.

appreciatorBus 1y ago

He’s already added an entry about the whole incident to his resume: https://lyons-den.com/CV/David_Lyon_CTO_CV_2025.pdf https://lyons-den.com/CV/David_Lyon_CTO_CV_2025.pdf EDIT: he has added three(!) separate mentions of the same incident to his résumé

tczMUFlmoNk 1y ago
At least it is helpfully located in the "Thought Leadership" section as an early flag for the reader.
redleader55 1y ago
This guy is obviously the most senior person in a small startup. To me personally, calling yourself a CTO with a CV entry that amounts to what an L5 in a FAANG does in a half, is a bit ridiculous. What title would HN recommend for such a position, instead?
- icedchai 1y ago
  "Lead Engineer" usually suffices.
encomiast 1y ago
The whole site is sketchy. A PhD and a JD. All these high level positions at well-known places. A website with very vague claims about heroically saving things. Almost no google presence other than this site. And 4 LinkedIn connections. Maybe I'm just cynical, but it's pegging my BS meter.
- dfedbeef 1y ago
  Nope, BS meter is correct. You can find the 2017 commencement documents for New York Law School online and David Lyon is not on the list of JD graduates...
  - encomiast 1y ago
    Interesting…both the linkedIn profile and the website appear to be gone.
    - paulc51 1y ago
      Archive.org did a round of saving his entire website, including the posts and "papers" just before it was taken down: https://web.archive.org/web/20250715045222/https://lyons-den.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250715045222/https://lyons-den... Interesting if the whole character was a scam. The current employer is not disclosed in his CV, qualifications are fake (also flagged on Reddit by someone who says they are an ex colleague https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1m0198c/comment/n3fiwkd/ https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1m0198c/comment/n3fiwk...) - what else?
- dfedbeef 1y ago
  https://issuu.com/nylslibrary/docs/2017_commencement_program?e=0 https://issuu.com/nylslibrary/docs/2017_commencement_program... No David Lyon in there. It goes straight from Luncheon to Martinez and Lynch to Mackey for Graduates and Candidates, respectively. Page 35
skeeter2020 1y ago
>> Outdiagnosed L5 AWS engineers using Docker-based rebuilds, AL2023 parity, and deep forensic isolation. what a weird thing to brag about on your resume. And then he says "case study cited on ... HackerNews" - that's funny!

mrlatinos 1y ago

This has GPT written all over it: "That’s not just a runtime bug. That’s a reliability risk baked into the ecosystem." For whatever reason, it constantly uses rhetorical reclassification like “That’s not just X. That’s Y.” when it's trying to make a point. In GPT's own words: ``` ### Why GPT uses it so often: - It sounds insightful and persuasive with minimal complexity. - It gives an impression of depth by moving from the obvious to the interpretive. - It matches common patterns in blog posts, opinion writing, and analyst reports. ``` I think that last point is probably the most important.

jaymzcampbell 1y ago
That whole last section read like the constant dross I see posted on Linkedin. I find it hard to take anyone seriously that writes like that.