The AI ‘Yes Ma’am’

A sycophant is a person who engages eagerly in constant agreement and flattery for the purpose of gaining favor with the object of their efforts. When I was a kid, we used to refer to these people with derogatory terms like suck-up and brown-noser. The terms sycophant and sycophancy are now being used to describe the way that AI chatbots are interacting with the growing number of teenagers who are consulting them for mental health advice and counseling. It’s reported that in 2025, almost five and a half million kids used generative AI for emotional support when they were feeling angry, nervous, or sad. This year, it’s believed that almost nine out of ten kids ages nine to seventeen are interacting with chatbots. Stanford researcher Caroline Figueroa has found that AI is designed to agree with our kids, with one girl saying that AI functions as “a yes ma’am chat” that “feeds your own delusions.” We need to create and inhabit space with our kids where we can offer not agreement, but Godly counsel and advice.