We all have anecdotal evidence of chatbots blowing smoke up our butts, but now we have science to back it up. Researchers at Stanford, Harvard and other institutions data-i13n=”elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:Nature Research;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1″ href=”https://shopping.yahoo.com/rdlw?merchantId=c6c965be-a8ea-473d-89f4-9754f2675a60&siteId=us-engadget&pageId=1p-autolink&contentUuid=9aadde38-49a8-4aef-bc67-9c4a60462a6f&featureId=text-link&merchantName=Nature+Research&linkText=just+published+a+study+in+Nature&custData=eyJzb3VyY2VOYW1lIjoiV2ViLURlc2t0b3AtVmVyaXpvbiIsImxhbmRpbmdVcmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYXR1cmUuY29tL2FydGljbGVzL2Q0MTU4Ni0wMjUtMDMzOTAtMD91dG1fc291cmNlPXgmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1zb2NpYWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5hdHVyZSZsaW5rSWQ9MTc0MTg4MzMiLCJjb250ZW50VXVpZCI6IjlhYWRkZTM4LTQ5YTgtNGFlZi1iYzY3LTljNGE2MDQ2MmE2ZiIsIm9yaWdpbmFsVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmF0dXJlLmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlcy9kNDE1ODYtMDI1LTAzMzkwLTA_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT14JnV0bV9tZWRpdW09c29jaWFsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uYXR1cmUmbGlua0lkPTE3NDE4ODMzIn0&signature=AQAAAU1wVOkjI97c0QITxheY6xfd4NwZLGX8odqEEtY1Y374&gcReferrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-025-03390-0%3Futm_source%3Dx%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dnature%26linkId%3D17418833&spaceId=1197802876″ class=”link rapid-with-clickid etailiffa-link” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:just published a study in Nature;elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:Nature Research;elmt:;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>just published a study in Nature about the sycophantic nature of AI chatbots and the results should surprise no one. Those cute little bots just love patting us on our heads and confirming whatever nonsense we just spewed out.
The researchers investigated advice issued by chatbots and they discovered that their penchant for sycophancy “was…
