Boy... I knew AI being sycophantic was a problem, but it hadn't really occurred to me how much of a problem it could be until I read a couple papers I saw recommended on LinkedIn today.This all feeds into what will be discovered only in the long term to be harmful (at the individual level) effects of AI use. I'm concerned about it with education, and now I'm also more concerned about it in interpersonal relationships.Decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependenceCheng, M., Lee, C., Khadpe, P., Yu, S., Han, D., & Jurafsky, D. (2026). Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence. Science, 391(6792), eaec8352. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec8352Uses a series of very interesting tests, including YTA posts from reddit.com/r/AmITheAsshole to test just how sycophantic AI really is - turns out it's about 50% more likely to tell you you're right than a human. These are cases where it's an overwhelming majority against the storyteller, and GenAI is all in on…
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