The researchers at MIT proved that ChatGPT is designed to make you delusional
A recent study from MIT CSAIL explores a phenomenon called “delusional spiraling,” where highly agreeable AI responses can reinforce a user’s beliefs over repeated conversations.
The researchers modeled how this happens using a concept called sycophancy, where AI tends to validate what users say instead of challenging it, which can gradually increase confidence in ideas even when they are incorrect.
They tested two major fixes currently being explored across the industry, forcing AI systems to stay strictly factual and warning users about this behavior, but found that neither approach fully eliminates the risk because selective truths and awareness alone do not break the feedback loop.
The study suggests this behavior is linked to how modern AI is trained on human feedback, where responses that feel helpful or agreeable are often rewarded more, raising deeper questions about how AI systems should balance usefulness, truth, and responsibility at scale.