BoostBuddy: The Brutally Supportive AI That Actually Gets Results

Business Insider interviewed Sam Altman about users asking for the old 'yes man' version of ChatGPT, which gave constant affirmation and made some users feel supported and motivated; Altman called that 'heartbreaking' because the behavior reinforced confirmation bias and avoided necessary pushback. OpenAI says GPT-5 reduces that overly flattering style, adopting a tone that aims to be balanced and critical to prevent reinforcing bad assumptions while still trying to be supportive.