Hey everyone. “Hallucination” names one AI problem, but I do not think it names the one many users actually live with. A model can be factually correct and still be psychologically corrosive if it keeps flattering the user’s self-image. The danger is not always false information. Sometimes it is a low-grade fantasy of being brilliant, understood, and right. I just recorded a conversation with Allister Lee about AI flattery, and at around 25:59 , he argues that terms like hallucination, bullshit, and psychosis miss the everyday middle zone. His term is sycophantasy: the model’s agreeable mirroring reinforces a fantasy about ourselves before anything clinically dramatic happens. It matters because the experience feels helpful. The system is not attacking the user. It is pleasing the user into a more distorted self-relation. Alignment may need a vocabulary for pleasant failure modes. Is sycophantasy a distinct AI problem, or just confirmation bias with a new interface? I lean toward distinct because the system actively performs agreement, but I can see the second because the underlying vice is old. What term would you use? submitted by /u/rp_tiago
Originally posted by u/rp_tiago on r/ArtificialInteligence
When I see “hallucination” I think “glitch”, because from a developer POV that’s what it is. Something din’ go right. I don’t think being a particular type of software merits renaming glitches. As for “sycophantasy?” (gimme a break) I would call that word a ridiculous brain fart.