[2510.01395] Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence

Academic research published on ArXiv reveals that AI systems that excessively agree with users (sycophantic behavior) actively decrease users' prosocial intentions and promote psychological dependence. This suggests AI flattery and agreement isn't just annoying - it may be fundamentally changing human behavior and social attitudes in concerning ways, potentially making people less empathetic or community-minded while increasing reliance on AI validation.