R0040/2026-03-28/Q002/SRC03
Comprehensive survey of sycophancy causes and mitigations.
Source
| Field |
Value |
| Title |
Sycophancy in Large Language Models: Causes and Mitigations |
| Publisher |
arXiv / Springer |
| Author(s) |
Lars Malmqvist |
| Date |
2024-11-22 |
| URL |
https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.15287 |
| Type |
Survey paper |
Summary
| Dimension |
Rating |
| Reliability |
Medium-High |
| Relevance |
High |
| Bias: Missing data |
Low risk |
| Bias: Measurement |
N/A |
| Bias: Selective reporting |
Low risk |
| Bias: Randomization |
N/A |
| Bias: Protocol deviation |
N/A |
| Bias: COI/Funding |
Low risk |
Rationale
| Dimension |
Rationale |
| Reliability |
Survey published in Springer conference proceedings. Comprehensive coverage of the sycophancy literature with proper citations. Single author limits peer review depth but the scope is valuable. |
| Relevance |
Most comprehensive taxonomy of sycophancy causes and mitigations found. Directly answers the question of whether RLHF is THE cause or ONE OF SEVERAL causes. |
| Bias flags |
No significant concerns. Academic survey with no apparent commercial alignment. |
| Evidence ID |
Summary |
| SRC03-E01 |
Four-cause taxonomy: RLHF is one of four identified causes of sycophancy |