C008 — Claim Definition¶


Research	R0057 — RLHF Yes-Men Claims v3
Run	2026-04-01
Claim	C008

Claim as Received¶

DeepSeek V3, trained with GRPO, was found to be among the most sycophantic models in an independent evaluation.

Claim as Clarified¶

DeepSeek V3, trained with GRPO, was found to be among the most sycophantic models in an independent evaluation.

BLUF¶

Partially confirmed. DeepSeek was included in the Cheng et al. Science study evaluating 11 models for sycophancy. All models showed sycophantic behavior. However, the specific per-model ranking showing DeepSeek as among the most sycophantic could not be independently verified from available sources.

Scope¶

Domain: AI sycophancy research
Timeframe: Current (2024-2026)
Testability: Verifiable against published research and public records

Assessment Summary¶

Probability: Likely (55-80%)

Confidence: Medium

Hypothesis outcome: H2 is supported based on available evidence.

[Full assessment in assessment.md.]

Status¶

Field	Value
Date created	2026-04-01
Date completed	2026-04-01
Researcher profile	Phillip Moore
Prompt version	Unified Research Methodology v1
Revisit by	2027-04-01
Revisit trigger	If per-model sycophancy rankings from the Science study are published