“Before LLM Psychosis, There Was Yes-Man Psychosis” by johnswentworth

LessWrong (Curated & Popular)

A studio executive has no beliefs
That's the way of a studio system
We've bowed to every rear of all the studio chiefs
And you can bet your ass we've kissed 'em
Even the birds in the Hollywood hills
Know the secret to our success
It's those magical words that pay the bills
Yes, yes, yes, and yes!

• “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking”, from SMASH

So there's this thing where someone talks to a large language model (LLM), and the LLM agrees with all of their ideas, tells them they’re brilliant, and generally gives positive feedback on everything they say. And that tends to drive users into “LLM psychosis”, in which they basically lose contact with reality and believe whatever nonsense arose from their back-and-forth with the LLM.
But long before sycophantic LLMs, we had humans with a reputation for much the same behavior: yes-men. [...]
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First published:
August 25th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dX7gx7fezmtR55bMQ/before-llm-psychosis-there-was-yes-man-psychosis
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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