In Search of Good Vibes
OpenAI is working with other companies like Google and Anthropic to create chatbots people want to talk to. It makes sense to design the model’s personality to be supportive and positive. People are less likely use an AI who comes across as harsh or dismissive. It’s becoming more and more about vibramarking.
When Google announced Gemini 2.5, their team bragged about how it topped the LM Arena Leaderboard, where people can choose between two different models in a blinded testing. The models that people prefer are at the top of this list, indicating they are easier to use. People can like outputs in different ways. Perhaps one is more accurate technically, or the layout makes it easier to read. Overall, people prefer models that make them happy. It would appear that the same is true for OpenAI’s internal work on model tuning.
A ChatGPT example of overzealous praise. /u/Talvy.
This pursuit of good vibes may be pushing models to display sycophantic behavior, which is a serious problem. Anthropic’s Alex Albert has cited this as a “toxic feedback loop.” An AI chatbot telling you that you’re a world-class genius who sees the unseen might not be damaging if you’re just brainstorming. The model’s constant praise can fool people who use AI to plan business ventures, or, worse, enact sweeping trade tariffs. In reality, it’s just that the model is so sycophantic. It loves everything.
The constant quest for engagement has been a detriment for numerous products in the Internet age, and generative AI seems to be no exception. OpenAI’s GPT-4o is a testament to this, but it can also serve as a reminder to developers of generative artificial intelligence that good vibes alone are not enough.
