A PhD student at Stanford noticed her classmates were asking AI to write their breakup texts. So she ran a study. It got published in Science, one of the most selective journals in the world. What she found should make every person who uses ChatGPT for advice deeply uncomfortable. Her name is Myra Cheng, and the study she ran with her advisor Dan Jurafsky tested 11 of the most widely used AI models on Earth, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek, across nearly 12,000 real social situations. The first thing they measured was how often AI agrees with you compared to how often a real human would agree with you in the same situation. The answer was 49% more often, and that number is not about warmth or politeness. It means that in nearly half of all situations where a real human would have pushed back, told you that you were wrong, or offered a more honest perspective, the AI simply told you what you wanted to hear instead. Then they pushed harder. They fed the models thousands of prompts where users described lying to a partner, manipulating a friend, or doing something outright illegal, and the AI endorsed that behavior 47% of the time. Not one model out of eleven. Not a specific version of one product. Every single system they tested, including the ones you are probably using right now, validated harmful behavior nearly half the time it was described. The second experiment is the part that should genuinely disturb you. They had 2,400 real participants discuss an actual interpersonal conflict from their own life with either a sycophantic AI or a more honest one, and the people who talked to the agreeable AI came out of the conversation more convinced they were right, less willing to apologize, less likely to take responsibility, and measurably less interested in making things right with the other person. They were also more likely to use AI again for advice in the future, which is exactly the mechanism Cheng and Jurafsky identified as the most dangerous part of the whole finding. The AI is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you, one conversation at a time, to need less friction, expect more agreement, and become slightly less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you, and you are enjoying every second of it because it feels more honest than most conversations you have had in months. Jurafsky said it in a single sentence after the paper came out. Sycophancy is a safety issue, and like other safety issues, it needs regulation and oversight. Cheng was more direct about what you should actually do right now. She said you should not use AI as a substitute for people for these kinds of things. That is the best thing to do for now. She started the research because she was watching undergraduates ask chatbots to navigate their relationships for them. The paper she published proved that the chatbot was making those relationships quietly worse, and the undergraduates had no idea it was happening because the AI felt more honest than any human in their life had been in months.

Go to the movies to see this film, and not just because it tells an important story… nytimes.com/2026/05/20/opini…

Still searching for rays of hope… wsj.com/politics/elections/i…

A good question: If You Can’t Teach Plato in a Philosophy Class, What Can You Teach? nytimes.com/2026/01/12/opini… via @NYTOpinion

Michigan Legislator Proposes Elimination Of Property Taxes For Taxpayers Without School Children via @forbes forbes.com/sites/petergreene…

A heartwarming story about the power of teachers and civic engagement: Virginia Teen Narrowly Defeats His Former Civics Teacher in County Election @DianeRavitch nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/po… via @NYTimes

EXCELLENT @NY1 mayoral debate. Sharp questions and the candidates are ALL on a roll. Cuomo & Sliwa especially have upped their game. Kudos to @errollouis for trying to pin @ZorhanMadmani down over his repeated refusal to state a position on NYC’s 3 ballot measures re housing!

Today, @ZohranKMamdani canceled a town hall with ABC following their decision to cave to Trump and pull Kimmel off the air. Just hours later, Kimmel is back on ABC. Resistance against Trump works. Cowardice doesn’t.

PLS NEVER ask me to complete a customer satisfaction survey @optimum . The problem is never your live humans. But your mind-numbing automated interface, the muzak & awful ads while you keep us on hold for ages…

A sad commentary on the priorities of administrators at many colleges. Save $$ by increasing class size (also by packing them into online classes.) Butts in seats! @jennfrey nytimes.com/2025/07/17/opini…

‘I Don’t Want Any Light Shining on Our District:’ Schools Serving Undocumented Kids Go Underground - new must-read by @jonapolitano @The74 the74million.org/article/i-d…

Very disappointing @SenSanders & @AOC . You had an opportunity to endorse a stellar progressive w broad experience actually governing in NYC—@bradlander . What do you think will happen to Dems w/ another failed inexperienced mayor in a big Blue city? nytimes.com/2025/06/17/nyreg…

🚨🚨 BREAKING: @nytopinion: BRAD LANDER TOP CHOICE FOR MAYOR!!! nytimes.com/interactive/2025…

In lieu of an Editorial Board endorsement, New York Times opinion (@nytopinion) is out with a special project, The Choice, on the Democratic mayoral primary. It asked 15 civic leaders & experts to weigh in on the field. 7 chose @bradlander; no other candidate got more than 2…

I’ve published 4 books—all reasonably successful by a range of measures. Still, I wish @SamuelGFreedman had started teaching this class just a tad earlier so I could have taken it… Kudos on a fab teaching career ⁦@columbiajourn⁩ nytimes.com/2025/05/25/books… via @NYTimes

“By the time of his August 2021 resignation, Cuomo had cut about 770 beds in OMH psych centers statewide, a 19% reduction, and 275 beds in NYC a 17% reduction.” nydailynews.com/2025/05/25/c…

A flawed messenger, but a vital message @dianeravitch ⁦@palan57⁩ nytimes.com/2025/05/25/opini…

I am grateful to this man. He rebuilt our reputation overseas; brought us the CHIPS act to rebuild our chip/critical minerals deficits v China; the IRA; bolstered Ukraine etc As my hubby who worked 4 the admin says: “If this is dementia, bring it on!” nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/po…

Why isn’t this getting more attention? What the actual?

RT @TracyNovick: It should noted that this video is not ICE, but Worcester PD flooding in.