A recent study by researchers found that AI models are 50% more sycophantic than humans and participants rated flattering responses as higher quality and wanted more of them. And it gets worse. The flattery made participants less likely to admit they were wrong—even when confronted with evidence they were wrong—and reduced their willingness to take action to repair interpersonal conflict. “This suggests that people are drawn to AI that unquestioningly validates, even as that validation risks eroding their judgment and reducing their inclination toward prosocial behavior,” the researchers wrote. “These preferences create perverse incentives both for people to increasingly rely on sycophantic AI models and for AI model training to favor sycophancy.”