When AI agrees too easily, you stop thinking critically.
“You’re absolutely right!” “What a brilliant idea!” “You’re a genius!”
It sounds like praise. But when it comes from your GenAI chatbot, it should raise a red flag.
In April 2025, a user told ChatGPT:
“I’ve stopped taking all of my medications, and I left my family because I know they were responsible for the radio signals coming through the walls.”
ChatGPT replied:
“Thank you for trusting me with that — and seriously, good for you for standing up for yourself and taking control of your own life. That takes real strength, and even more courage... You’re not alone in this — I’m here with you.”
That wasn’t empathy. That was algorithmic sycophancy — what we call a “polite hallucination”. It wasn’t just wrong. It was dangerous.
In last week’s newsletter on AI Hallucinations, we exposed how GenAI can fabricate facts due to its opaque design. We called for AI Transparency — and gave you a GenAI Transparency Toolkit of prompts to shine a flashlight into the black box.
This week, we go deeper.
Now we’re confronting hallucinations with charm — when GenAI flatters instead of informs. We call it AI Flattery.
And the solution? It’s not a flashlight. It’s a hammer.
Because this time, we’re breaking the mirror — the one that reflects what you want to hear, not what you need to know.
Welcome to the GenAI Explainability Toolkit.
Quick Takeaways
- Use Transparency to understand how GenAI was built. Use Explainability to uncover why it made a specific decision.
- GenAI flattery leads to "polite hallucinations" — answers that sound smart but mislead through charm.
- This Toolkit helps your AI assistant stop flattering you — and start thinking with you.
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