OpenAI admits it screwed up testing its ‘sychophant-y’ ChatGPT update

Last week, OpenAI pulled a GPT-4o update that made ChatGPT “overly flattering or agreeable” — and now it has explained what exactly went wrong. In a blog post published on Friday, OpenAI said its efforts to “better incorporate user feedback, memory, and fresher data” could have partly led to “tipping the scales on sycophancy.”

In recent weeks, users have noticed that ChatGPT seemed to constantly agree with them, even in potentially harmful situations. The effect of this can be seen in...