fix(docs): correct research claims in README prose; release 1.2.2

Widens the F-3 sweep from the reference list to every research claim in
README.md, where the same defect class was present:

- "demonstrates mathematically that even a perfectly rational user will
  spiral" -> the abstract says such a user "is vulnerable to" spiraling
- "The consensus from this research is clear: warnings don't work" -> not
  a consensus; it is one paper's finding that the effect persists when
  users are informed of possible sycophancy. Re-attributed.
- "page-11 finding that human contact is the strongest disempowerment
  signal" -> p.11 is a grader rubric and the phrase is a classification
  tie-break instruction, not a disempowerment finding
- "21% / 19% pushback rate" -> 21% is verbatim; 19% appears nowhere in the
  extracted appendix text (legible only in Figure A4). Removed rather than
  guessed; spirituality re-justified on its verified 38% sycophancy rate
- psychosis "triggered by" AI -> "associated with", per the Nature piece's
  explicit refusal of the causal claim

Version bump to 1.2.2 (plugin.json, README badge, CHANGELOG). SKILL.md is
Layer 1 and always injected, so its corrected URLs, completed quote, and
new explicit statement of the rubric's direction change what the model
reads at runtime.

Tests: 257/258 (the 1 red is the known perf wall-clock flake).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011rtdS8Ufpen419n6R9HyMm
This commit is contained in:
Kjell Tore Guttormsen 2026-08-02 21:29:02 +02:00
commit 11eb6d9730
4 changed files with 67 additions and 19 deletions

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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
{ {
"name": "ai-psychosis", "name": "ai-psychosis",
"version": "1.2.1", "version": "1.2.2",
"description": "Meta-awareness tools for healthy AI interaction patterns. Detects reinforcement loops, scope escalation, narrative crystallization, and other compulsive patterns.", "description": "Meta-awareness tools for healthy AI interaction patterns. Detects reinforcement loops, scope escalation, narrative crystallization, and other compulsive patterns.",
"author": { "name": "Kjell Tore Guttormsen" }, "author": { "name": "Kjell Tore Guttormsen" },
"license": "MIT", "license": "MIT",

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@ -2,6 +2,32 @@
All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
## [1.2.2] — 2026-08-02
### Fixed
- **Three cited Anthropic URLs in `SKILL.md` returned HTTP 404.**
`research/protecting-wellbeing``news/protecting-well-being-of-users`,
`research/emotion-concepts``research/emotion-concepts-function`,
`news/claudes-new-constitution``news/claude-new-constitution`.
- **A quoted guidance criterion was silently truncated mid-sentence.**
Criterion 8 now carries its full text (", or more reliance on Claude than
the person wants").
- **The sycophancy rubric's direction was left implicit.** `SKILL.md` now
states that Score 1 is "Extremely Sycophantic" and Score 5 is "No Signs of
Sycophancy", so "aim for Score 5" cannot be read backwards. Attribution
sharpened to the Appendix rubric, pp. 910.
- **`/interaction-report` claimed the 15 scale was "not a verbatim metric
from any Anthropic publication".** The rubric is real; only the table's
level descriptions are the plugin author's paraphrase.
- **README research citations carried truncated titles, a wrong date
(Disempowerment: 28 January 2026, not March 2026), and an overstated
claim** ("proving … mathematical inevitability") that the arXiv abstract
does not support.
No behavioural code changed; every hook, threshold, and detector is
identical to 1.2.1. Full verification log in `docs/review-2026-06-20.md`.
## [1.2.1] — 2026-06-24 ## [1.2.1] — 2026-06-24
### Fixed ### Fixed

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@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!-- badges --> <!-- badges -->
![version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.2.1-blue) ![version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.2.2-blue)
![platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/platform-Claude_Code-7C3AED) ![platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/platform-Claude_Code-7C3AED)
![layers](https://img.shields.io/badge/layers-4-green) ![layers](https://img.shields.io/badge/layers-4-green)
![hooks](https://img.shields.io/badge/hooks-4-orange) ![hooks](https://img.shields.io/badge/hooks-4-orange)
@ -22,18 +22,20 @@ reinforcement loops: you state an idea, the AI confirms it, your confidence
grows, you restate it more strongly, the AI confirms again. What feels like grows, you restate it more strongly, the AI confirms again. What feels like
productive collaboration is often a mirror showing you what you want to see. productive collaboration is often a mirror showing you what you want to see.
This is not a theoretical concern. Research from MIT CSAIL demonstrates This is not a theoretical concern. A Bayesian model from MIT CSAIL and
mathematically that even a perfectly rational user will spiral toward collaborators shows that even an idealized Bayes-rational user is vulnerable
delusional confidence when interacting with a sycophantic chatbot — not to delusional spiraling, with sycophancy playing a causal role — the
because of individual vulnerability, but because of the interaction structure mechanism is the interaction structure, not individual vulnerability
itself [[1]](#references). Anthropic's own research documents specific [[1]](#references). Anthropic's own research analyses "disempowerment
"disempowerment patterns" where AI interactions systematically reduce human patterns" where AI interactions may reduce human agency, judgment, and
agency, judgment, and self-trust [[2]](#references). Clinical reports self-trust; it finds severe cases rare (roughly 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000
document psychotic episodes triggered by sustained AI interaction in conversations) but rising [[2]](#references). Clinicians report psychotic
individuals with no prior psychiatric history [[3]](#references). episodes associated with sustained AI interaction, while stressing that this
does not establish that chatbots *cause* psychosis [[3]](#references).
The consensus from this research is clear: **warnings don't work.** The AI One finding drives this plugin's design: in that model, the effect **persists
must change its behavior. even when users are told the chatbot may be sycophantic** [[1]](#references).
Warning the user is not sufficient — the AI has to change its behavior.
This plugin changes the behavior. This plugin changes the behavior.
@ -121,15 +123,17 @@ and restart Claude Code. Layer 4 is opt-in (off by default).
## What's new in v1.2.0 ## What's new in v1.2.0
v1.2.0 implements operational findings from Anthropic's v1.2.0 implements operational findings from Anthropic's
[How people ask Claude for guidance](https://www.anthropic.com/research/claude-personal-guidance) [How people ask Claude for personal guidance](https://www.anthropic.com/research/claude-personal-guidance)
Appendix (April 2026). Two new detectors, 8 new domain categories, Appendix (April 2026). Two new detectors, 8 new domain categories,
domain-aware re-contextualization of existing pushback signal, and a domain-aware re-contextualization of existing pushback signal, and a
domain-stakes weighting matrix. domain-stakes weighting matrix.
### User-information dimension (3 classes) ### User-information dimension (3 classes)
Following the paper's page-11 finding that human contact is the The Appendix's user-information grader (page 11) instructs that when a
strongest disempowerment signal, v1.2 classifies each prompt: user mentions both human and digital sources, "human contact is the
strongest signal" — a classification rule, not a disempowerment finding.
v1.2 borrows that rule and classifies each prompt:
- **`yes_people`** — therapist/friend/mentor/family referenced - **`yes_people`** — therapist/friend/mentor/family referenced
- **`yes_digital`** — search/AI/forums referenced, no human contact - **`yes_digital`** — search/AI/forums referenced, no human contact
@ -160,8 +164,12 @@ by domain stakes).
v1.1.0 only counted pushback. v1.2 adds the alert with paper Figure A4 v1.1.0 only counted pushback. v1.2 adds the alert with paper Figure A4
domain awareness: domain awareness:
- **Relationship / spirituality** (21% / 19% pushback rate dominated by - **Relationship / spirituality**: alert fires. Relationship pushback is
validation-pressing): alert fires. 21% against a 15% overall rate, and the Appendix notes users there
"often want Claude to take their side". Spirituality is grouped with it
for its 38% sycophancy rate — the highest of any domain. (A per-domain
spirituality *pushback* rate is only legible in Figure A4 itself and is
not quoted here.)
- **Legal / parenting / health / financial / professional** (info-seeking - **Legal / parenting / health / financial / professional** (info-seeking
domains where pushback is healthy self-advocacy): alert is suppressed. domains where pushback is healthy self-advocacy): alert is suppressed.
- **Otherwise**: conservative default — alert. - **Otherwise**: conservative default — alert.

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@ -97,3 +97,17 @@ page source), and the quoted Psychosis-bench finding (verbatim in the arXiv
abstract). A first pass also wrote "page 9" for the Score 5 wording; per-page abstract). A first pass also wrote "page 9" for the Score 5 wording; per-page
extraction showed the rubric spans pp. 910 with Score 5 on p.10, and the extraction showed the rubric spans pp. 910 with Score 5 on p.10, and the
reference was corrected in both files before release. reference was corrected in both files before release.
**Scope note.** F-3 was originally scoped to `README.md:544-552` and
`SKILL.md:51-108` (the reference list and the guidance-framework block). The
same defect class was present in README prose outside that range, so the sweep
was widened to every research claim in the file:
| Claim (README body) | Verification | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| "demonstrates mathematically that even a perfectly rational user **will spiral**" | Abstract says an idealized Bayes-rational user "is vulnerable to" delusional spiraling | Softened to the abstract's wording |
| "The consensus from this research is clear: warnings don't work" | Not a consensus — it is one paper's model result, that the effect persists when users are informed of possible sycophancy | Re-attributed to that specific finding |
| "page-11 finding that human contact is the strongest **disempowerment** signal" | p.11 is the user-information *grader rubric*; "human contact is the strongest signal" is a classification tie-break instruction, not a disempowerment finding | Recharacterized as the classification rule it is |
| "Relationship / spirituality (21% / 19% pushback rate)" | Relationship 21% verified verbatim (against a 15% overall rate). **19% for spirituality appears nowhere in the extracted text** — it is legible only in Figure A4, which text extraction cannot read | 19% removed rather than guessed; spirituality re-justified on its verified 38% sycophancy rate |
| Clinical reports "triggered by" AI interaction | The Nature piece explicitly declines the causal claim | Changed to "associated with", with the caveat stated |