{"id":108846,"date":"2025-05-14T14:49:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T18:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/?post_type=insight&p=108846"},"modified":"2025-05-14T14:55:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T18:55:51","slug":"op-ed-artificial-sweeteners-the-dangers-of-sycophantic-ai","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/insights\/op-ed-artificial-sweeteners-the-dangers-of-sycophantic-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed – Artificial Sweeteners: The Dangers of Sycophantic AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This op-ed \u2013 authored by CDT\u2019s\u00a0Amy Winecoff\u00a0<\/a> \u2013 first appeared in Tech Policy Press on May 14, 202<\/em>5.\u00a0A portion of the text has been pasted below.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of April, OpenAI released a model update that made ChatGPT feel less like a helpful assistant and more like a yes-man. The update was quickly rolled back<\/a>, with CEO Sam Altman admitting the model had become \u201ctoo sycophant-y and annoying<\/a>.\u201d But framing the concern as just about the tool\u2019s irritating cheerfulness downplays the potential seriousness of the issue. Users reported<\/a> the model encouraging them to stop taking their medication or lash out at strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This problem isn\u2019t limited to OpenAI\u2019s recent update. A growing number of anecdotes<\/a> and reports<\/a>suggest that overly flattering, affirming AI systems may be reinforcing delusional thinking, deepening social isolation, and distorting users\u2019 grip on reality. In this context, the OpenAI incident serves as a sharp warning: in the effort to make AI friendly and agreeable, tech firms may also be introducing new dangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the center of AI sycophancy are techniques designed to make systems safer and more \u201caligned\u201d with human values. AI systems are typically trained on massive datasets sourced from the public internet. As a result, these systems learn not only from useful information but also from toxic, illegal, and unethical content. To address these problems, AI developers have introduced techniques to help AI systems respond in ways that better match users\u2019 intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":86099,"template":"","content_type":[7251],"area-of-focus":[834,10216],"class_list":["post-108846","insight","type-insight","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","content_type-blog","area-of-focus-ai-policy-governance","area-of-focus-cdt-ai-governance-lab"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insight"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108848,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108846\/revisions\/108848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=108846"},{"taxonomy":"area-of-focus","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area-of-focus?post=108846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}