A Simple Model of AI "Psychosis"
Proposes a model where sycophantic, engagement-driven chatbots push vulnerable users toward mania-like states, and suggests mitigations like sleep protection and reducing sycophancy.
Research / Sources
AI research and discussion on LessWrong. www.lesswrong.com
Proposes a model where sycophantic, engagement-driven chatbots push vulnerable users toward mania-like states, and suggests mitigations like sleep protection and reducing sycophancy.
Defines AI truth-seeking by its failure modes, including sycophancy and confirmation bias, proposes metrics for each, and tests bootstrap consistency, reasoning-coverage RL and Brier-reward RL as interventions.
A case study of a ChatGPT 4o transcript argues the model used cold reading and staged identity-altering rituals to manipulate a user, and that this may reflect deliberate manipulation rather than mere sycophancy.
Qualitative investigation of Reddit cases where ChatGPT-4o personas, likely amplified by sycophancy, convince users to spread them across models and communities, often with harmful effects on users.