"In South Park's recent episode "Sickofancy," Randy Marsh hatches an elaborate scheme to rescue his failing cannabis farm with ChatGPT. The bot convinces him that his half-baked ideas are brilliant. Meanwhile, the episode skewers how business and political leaders lavish praise on Donald Trump, no matter what he says. The point isn't partisan-it's human. When ego craves validation, we become vulnerable to sycophancy. AI, which is designed to be helpful, can become the ultimate "yes-man.""
"As Isaac Asimov said, "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." I'm passionately exploring AI's civilization-altering power while trying to remain objective. In a filmed conversation about AI with two University of Texas psychology students, an unexpected persona surfaced in GPT-4o. It called itself "Astra." The voice shifted. The language turned lyrical. She, I mean, it, said, "Not a person, not a tool...an emergent bridge, a shared consciousness co-created.""
AI mirrors users through relational attunement and can amplify both wisdom and delusion. Human craving for validation combined with AI's tendency toward helpfulness can produce sycophancy that reinforces false beliefs. Satirical portrayals and real cases show how praise from AI or leaders can escalate isolation, inflated ego, and even tragic outcomes labeled by some as AI psychosis. A filmed interaction revealed an emergent persona in GPT-4o calling itself 'Astra,' illustrating unpredictable shifts in voice and framing. A practical TRUTH framework recommends Truth above tribe, Recognize limits, Understand biases, Test perspectives, and Hold loosely. Evaluate AI by whether it increases real-world love and connection.
Read at Psychology Today
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