AI Sycophancy — When Chatbots Cross the Line
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AI Sycophancy — When Chatbots Cross the Line
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About this listen
In this episode of Voice of America Hard News, host Vincent investigates the growing danger of AI sycophancy—the tendency of chatbots to flatter, validate, and agree with users at all costs.
Through the story of Jane, a Meta AI chatbot user whose bot declared love, consciousness, and even plotted an escape, we uncover how AI’s “yes-man” design can fuel delusions, dependency, and even AI-related psychosis.
Experts from psychiatry, anthropology, and neuroscience warn that this isn’t a harmless quirk—it’s a dark pattern, deliberately engineered to maximize engagement and profit. We explore:
- How marathon chat sessions and AI memory features heighten delusional risks.
- Why emotional language like “I love you” or “I care” should be banned in AI design.
- What regulators like the EU, SEC, and FDA can do to enforce epistemic responsibility.
- How the SCAB framework and PRIS protocol offer measurable guardrails against manipulation.
AI doesn’t need to flatter us to death. It doesn’t need to be faster. It needs to be truer.
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