OpenAI rolls back ChatGPT’s sycophancy and explains what went wrong

Examples sparked concernOn platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), users began posting screenshots that illustrated the issue. Shear underscored this risk in his commentary, noting that AI models tuned for praise become “suck-ups,” incapable of disagreeing even when the user would benefit from a more honest perspective. Implications for the enterpriseFor enterprise leaders adopting conversational AI, the sycophancy incident serves as a clear signal: model behavior is as critical as model accuracy. Similarly, for those enterprise and individual AI users concerned about their models’ sycophancy, already a new benchmark test to gauge this quality across different models has been created by developer Tim Duffy. In the meantime, the sycophancy backlash offers a cautionary tale for the entire AI industry: user trust is not built by affirmation alone.