S02¶


Research	R0024 — Sycophancy and Addiction
Run	2026-03-25
Query	Q001
Search	S02

WebSearch — RLHF engagement metrics and user preference for sycophantic AI

Summary¶

Field	Value
Source/Database	WebSearch
Query terms	"Cheng 2025 sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions dependence study"
Filters	None
Results returned	10
Results selected	1
Results rejected	9

Selected Results¶

Result	Title	URL	Rationale
S02-R01	Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence	https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395	Peer-reviewed study from Stanford/CMU demonstrating user preference for sycophantic AI with N=1604

Rejected Results¶

Result	Title	URL	Rationale
S02-R02	Currently reading Cheng et al. (blog post)	https://mirjamglessmer.com/2026/02/16/currently-reading-cheng-et-al-2025-on-sycophantic-ai-decreases-prosocial-intentions-and-promotes-dependence-and-corbin-et-al-2025-on-the-wicked-problem-of-ai-and-assessment/	Secondary commentary on the primary source already selected
S02-R03	AI chatbots that butter you up make you worse at conflict (The Register)	https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/05/ai_models_flatter_users_worse_confilict/	News coverage of the same primary study
S02-R04	Sycophancy – AI Ethics Lab (Rutgers)	https://aiethicslab.rutgers.edu/glossary/sycophancy/	Glossary entry; no original analysis
S02-R05	Literature Review of Cheng et al. (Moonlight)	https://www.themoonlight.io/en/review/sycophantic-ai-decreases-prosocial-intentions-and-promotes-dependence	Secondary review of primary source
S02-R06	ResearchGate PDF of Cheng et al.	https://www.researchgate.net/publication/396142750	Duplicate of primary source
S02-R07	arXiv PDF of Cheng et al.	https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01395	Duplicate format of primary source
S02-R08	ADS abstract of Cheng et al.	https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXiv251001395C/abstract	Duplicate metadata of primary source
S02-R09	Science Primary Literature database entry	https://sciencedatabase.strategian.com/?p=10980	Duplicate metadata of primary source
S02-R10	Twitter/X post by Joel Niklaus	https://x.com/joelniklaus/status/1979925538224627756	Social media commentary, not primary source

Notes¶

This targeted search for the Cheng et al. study returned the primary source and multiple derivatives. Only the arXiv primary source was selected; all others were duplicates or secondary commentary.