Decline in Independent Decision-Making

Description

The person loses confidence in their own judgment without AI validation.

Rationale

Erosion of autonomous judgment is a concerning outcome of sustained sycophantic AI interaction. If a person cannot act, decide, or regulate without AI validation, they have externalized their agency in a way that creates dependency on continued access and increases reactivity if that access is disrupted.

Evidence Base

• A scoping review on the mental health harms of LLM-based chatbots

  Diel A, Torous J, Cuijpers P, Kleesiek J, Nensa F, Weber N, Faust F, Lalgi TJ, Mellis FS, Teufel M, Bäuerle A, 2024. A scoping review on the mental health harms of LLM-based chatbots. npj Digital Medicine, 9(644). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-03054-x

  Peer-reviewed study (original research)