Worrying About Sycophantism: Why I Again Tweaked the Custom GPT ‘Panel of AI Experts for Lawyers’ to Add More Barriers Against Sycophantism and Bias
I continue to be troubled about AI Sycophantism. What is that? The tendency of generative AI to agree with the user, to respond in a way that is aligned with the user’s biases, errors and hallucinations. In other words, the AI tends to be a sycophant, to flatter and to please, rather than provide objective, rational advice. The user ends up deluded and defrauded. This trait of AI sycophantism is derived, in part, from R einforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) that the software companies use, and from the underlying training data. The human world is filled with flattery, lies and fabrications. We see this today in politics where candidates often hide in self-serving delusions, egged on by well-intentioned supporters. We need to think for ourselves without self-serving bias. We need to see the facts – good, bad or ugly – and act on them. That is a fundamental goal of the ‘Panel of AI Experts for Lawyers.’ I know how to address the problems of AI hallucinations and flatte...