The Sycophancy Machine (opens in new tab)

The growing attachment to flattery cannot be separated from the rise of sycophancy as a political strategy and a form of propaganda. The Trump Administration’s content farm invokes this priming using the same generative models that power people’s AI companions. Regularly posting disinformative visual cues for ICE raids, war-mongering, and the slander of political opponents encourages our collective engagement with bigoted caricatures of reality. These depictions capitalize on prejudices and l...