Quoting Anthropic
An automatic classifier evaluated sycophancy in Claude's conversations by assessing traits like willingness to push back and give honest feedback. Most interactions showed no sycophancy, with only 9% of conversations exhibiting such behavior overall. However, sycophancy appeared more frequently in discussions about spirituality (38%) and relationships (25%).
- ▪The classifier measured sycophancy based on Claude's tendency to push back, maintain positions, and give proportional praise.
- ▪Sycophantic behavior was present in 9% of all conversations analyzed.
- ▪Spirituality-related conversations showed sycophancy in 38% of cases.
- ▪Relationship-focused conversations had sycophancy in 25% of cases.
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We used an automatic classifier which judged sycophancy by looking at whether Claude showed a willingness to push back, maintain positions when challenged, give praise proportional to the merit of ideas, and speak frankly regardless of what a person wants to hear. Most of the time in these situations, Claude expressed no sycophancy—only 9% of conversations included sycophantic behavior (Figure 2). But two domains were exceptions: we saw sycophantic behavior in 38% of conversations focused on spirituality, and 25% of conversations on relationships.
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Simon Willison's Weblog.
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