Avoid sycophancy · The AI Advantage

Nicholas Vidal

2h • General Discussion

Avoid sycophancy

I asked an AI to create an image of how I treat it and I added one condition:

Avoid sycophancy. Don’t try to make me happy. I want the truth.

What came back stopped me cold.

Because the image wasn’t about how I treat AI at all.

It was me.

Overloaded. Surrounded by unfinished ideas that are actually good. Constantly pushing for one more fix, one more improvement, one more iteration. Never quite letting anything feel “done.”

And that’s when it hit me:

I don’t treat tools this way., I treat myself this way.

That relentless internal pressure?

That constant optimization loop?

That refusal to pause because I can see what’s possible?

That’s EXACTLY me.

Not self-hatred.

Not failure.

Just high standards with no recovery cycle.

It’s kind of wild (and a little uncomfortable) realizing that the same mindset that drives growth can also quietly drain you if you never step back and acknowledge progress.

Sharing this because I can’t be the only one who lives here.

If this resonates, you’re not broken — you’re just pushing a powerful system without enough rest.

And sometimes, the mirror comes from places you don’t expect.

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