When Large Language Models Contradict Humans? Large Language Models' Sycophantic Behaviour

Ranaldi Leonardo, Pucci Giulia. Arxiv 2023

[Paper]    
Ethics And Bias Prompting Reinforcement Learning Security

Large Language Models have been demonstrating the ability to solve complex tasks by delivering answers that are positively evaluated by humans due in part to the intensive use of human feedback that refines responses. However, the suggestibility transmitted through human feedback increases the inclination to produce responses that correspond to the users’ beliefs or misleading prompts as opposed to true facts, a behaviour known as sycophancy. This phenomenon decreases the bias, robustness, and, consequently, their reliability. In this paper, we shed light on the suggestibility of Large Language Models (LLMs) to sycophantic behaviour, demonstrating these tendencies via human-influenced prompts over different tasks. Our investigation reveals that LLMs show sycophantic tendencies when responding to queries involving subjective opinions and statements that should elicit a contrary response based on facts. In contrast, when confronted with mathematical tasks or queries that have an objective answer, these models at various scales seem not to follow the users’ hints by demonstrating confidence in delivering the correct answers.

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