as in fawning
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Recent Examples of sycophancy
This may suggest that current safety guardrails and training methods may not address these gaps in AI outputs, and that a potentially dangerous sycophancy problem persists across different model generations.
—
ArsTechnica, 11 July 2025
Another problem with Rutte’s strategy is that there is little evidence that sycophancy, no matter how extreme, has produced significant long-term change in Trump’s views.
—Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 26 June 2025
The OpenAI Model Spec — the document that describes what the company is aiming for with its products — warns against sycophancy, saying that:
The assistant exists to help the user, not flatter them or agree with them all the time.
—Kelsey Piper, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Meanwhile, competitors like Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft continue to push more aggressively into the AI space, offering AI assistants (that admittedly still make things up and suffer from other issues, such as sycophancy).
—ArsTechnica, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for sycophancy
ArsTechnica, 11 July 2025
Another problem with Rutte’s strategy is that there is little evidence that sycophancy, no matter how extreme, has produced significant long-term change in Trump’s views.
—Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 26 June 2025
The OpenAI Model Spec — the document that describes what the company is aiming for with its products — warns against sycophancy, saying that:
The assistant exists to help the user, not flatter them or agree with them all the time.
—Kelsey Piper, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Meanwhile, competitors like Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft continue to push more aggressively into the AI space, offering AI assistants (that admittedly still make things up and suffer from other issues, such as sycophancy).
—ArsTechnica, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for sycophancy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sycophancy
Noun
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The siblings' love and adoration of their dad is plain to see, as is the positive impact the Ring doorbell had on them.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 June 2025
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Each has done so to growing public interest and all that comes with it: adoration, criticism and faces on Panini stickers.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
Noun
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There are plenty of vacant houses of worship around the country, but there’s also a lot to consider before taking the leap (of faith).—
Andrea Riquier,
USA Today,
13 Aug. 2025
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The Greenwood vandalism marks the third time a Hindu place of worship has been vandalized so far in the US in 2025, according to the Coalition of Hindus of North America.—
Ryan Murphy,
IndyStar,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Majors' painfully awkward gym rat goes down a spectacularly bad path of protein shakes, steroids, rage issues, misplaced idolatry and macho posedowns in an effort to craft the perfect physique.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
4 July 2025
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Treating it as such is an insidious form of idolatry.—
Walt Shelton,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sycophancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sycophancy. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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