Beyond the sycophantic vs. cold divide: towards flexible, emotionally intelligent agents to foster healthier human-AI interactions.

Although large language models (LLMs) have only recently become ubiquitous, psychological distress following user-LLM interaction has already been documented in both the scientific literature and the popular media. Such distress may be related to the tendency of some LLMs to provide sycophantic responses that uncritically reinforce the views of the user. To support users’ healthy emotional regulation, flexible, emotionally aware AI systems are needed.