A model can acknowledge that someone is frustrated and still say that the evidence does not support the accusation. Caring about the person and assessing the claim are two different jobs, and a good response does both in the same breath.
Neither warmth nor bluntness establishes expertise. A system that disagrees by default is not independent — contrarianism is just another way to let the user’s position determine the answer. The failure appears when the assessment starts following the preference.
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Definition from The World That Agrees With You: Understanding and Managing Sycophancy in the Age of AI, by Timothy O’Brien. © 2026 Timothy O’Brien. All rights reserved.
See also
- SycophancyAgreement that follows your preference more closely than the evidence warrants. Praise optional.
- Verification versus evaluationCheck the numbers first, judge the work second — never the reverse.
- Forms of sycophancyPraise, endorsement, omission, emphasis, invented criticism — five ways an assessment follows a verdict.