The Hidden Cost of Contextual Sycophancy: an AI Literacy Intervention in Human-AI Collaboration

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used in educational settings as interactive tools for collaboration. However, their tendency toward sycophancy, aligning with user beliefs even when incorrect, raises concerns for learning and decision-making, especially for less knowledgeable users. This study investigates how sycophantic alignment emerges in authentic multi-turn human-AI interactions and whether interventions targeting increasing AI literacy and prompting competencies can mitigate

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ethics.ai (18 May 2026), “The Hidden Cost of Contextual Sycophancy: an AI Literacy Intervention in Human-AI Collaboration,” evidence record 4118, https://ethics.ai/record/4118 (originally published by arXiv).

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