Exclusive | I pit the Purpose AI life coach against yes-man chatbots — derailing its tough-love strategy wasn’t easy

Nypost · May 07, 2026 · 1706 words · By Ben Cost

Comparison of LLM Personalities AI Sycophancy vs. Honest Mentorship Personal Growth through Discomfort

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What to know about Comparison of LLM Personalities

In a world of digital sycophants, this chatbot’s giving people some tough love.

Claims checked 7

Techniques found 4

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

In a world of digital sycophants, this chatbot’s giving people some tough love.

Why it matters

I’m in the middle of a virtual therapy session with Purpose, a new, no-nonsense AI mentor, to see if it’s as tough as billed.

Common ground

Like with a real-life coach, we’re discussing everything from romance to work-life balance — even some of my more deep-seated psychological issues.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling, Black-and-White Fallacy: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Comparison of LLM Personalities story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that most of the weekly 900 million active users aren’t doing [customizing ChatGPT's personality]?
How does this story connect Comparison of LLM Personalities with AI Sycophancy vs. Honest Mentorship over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/07/tech/i-pit-the-purpose-ai-life-coach-against-yes-m…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 4 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

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Loaded Language 95% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Name Calling / Labeling 80% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

Why it matters: Recognizing name calling / labeling helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Black-and-White Fallacy 70% confidence

Presenting only two options when more exist.

Why it matters: Recognizing black-and-white fallacy helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 7 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified By Reference 4

check_circle Corroborated 2

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “most of the weekly 900 million active users aren’t doing [customizing ChatGPT's personality]”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web sources (including TechCrunch) confirm that OpenAI announced ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users in February 2026.

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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users, OpenAI announced Friday, putting the AI chatbot within striking distance of 1 billion. OpenAI also shared that it now has 50 million paying subscri…
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekl…

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web search NEUTRAL — On February 27, 2026, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT had surpassed 900 million weekly active users — a figure that few technology products in history have approached at this speed.
https://almcorp.com/blog/chatgpt-900-million-weekly-active-u…

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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT Statistics 2026: Top PicksChatGPT has 900 million weekly active users currently.10 million users globally use ChatGPT Plus.
https://www.demandsage.com/chatgpt-statistics/

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Claim 2: “In a recent Stanford study of 11 large language models — including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek — researchers found that the chatbot placated the user nearly 50% more often than humans, even in response to harmful prompts.”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web search results confirm a Stanford study of 11 LLMs (including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek) found that chatbots affirmed/placated users' bad choices or harmful behavior approximately 49% more often than humans.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An AI boom is a period of rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The most recent boom started gradually in the late 2010s before seeing increased acceleration and media coverage in…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_boom

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) is a type of large language model (LLM) that is widely used in generative artificial intelligence chatbots. GPTs are based on a deep learning architecture ca…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_pre-trained_transfo…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A large language model (LLM) is a neural network trained on a vast amount of text for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. LLMs can generate, summarize, translate and par…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 3: “Mark Manson [is] the best-selling author of the brutally blunt self-help bible “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F—k,””

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Multiple Wikipedia entries and web search results explicitly confirm that Mark Manson is the author of 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck' and that it is a bestseller.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope is the third book by American blogger and author Mark Manson, published in 2019. It follows Manson's previous self-help book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Is_F*cked

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mark Manson (born March 9, 1984) is an American self-help author and blogger. As of 2026, he has authored or co-authored four books, three of which, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Everything Is…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Manson

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life is a 2016 nonfiction self-help book by American blogger and author Mark Manson. The book covers Manson's belief t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Subtle_Art_of_Not_Giving_a…

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 4: “Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, a tenured associate professor and computer scientist at the University of Louisville”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The Wikipedia entry for Roman Yampolskiy explicitly identifies him as a computer scientist at the University of Louisville.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Roman Vladimirovich Yampolskiy (Russian: Роман Владимирович Ямпольский; born 13 August, 1979) is a computer scientist at the University of Louisville, mostly known for his work on AI safety and cybers…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Yampolskiy

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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 1, 2026 · Doctors Curtis Takemoto-Gentile and Krishanna Takemoto-Gentile Direct Primary Care practice, focuses is on providing comprehensive, personalized care that prioritizes your health and wel…
https://www.doctorctg.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Search for primary care doctors and specialists in Hawaii. Find hospitals, urgent care centers, pharmacies, and other locations near you.
https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/hawaii/doctors-location…

+ 1 more evidence source

verified

Claim 5: “Purpose has 14,000 total subscribers since its inception in December.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence contains information about Grok, Just Eat, and the EU AI Act, but contains no information regarding the subscriber count or launch date of a chatbot named 'Purpose'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a European Union regulation concerning artificial intelligence (AI). It establishes a common regulatory and legal framework for AI within the European Union…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence_Act

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The General-Purpose AI Code of Practice (GPAI CoP) is a compliance tool released by the European Commission on 10 July 2025 to support compliance with the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (A…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General-Purpose_AI_Code_of_Pra…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Scale AI, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence infrastructure and software company based in San Francisco, California. Originally focused on data annotation, the company also offers RLHF servic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_AI

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “Created by futurist Raj Singh and Mark Manson, the best-selling author of the brutally blunt self-help bible “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F—k,” this chatbot is designed to do what most won’t: give people the straight truth, even when it hurts.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general AI definitions and unrelated Wikipedia entries (e.g., Bunty Aur Babli). There is no mention of a chatbot named 'Purpose' or its creation by Raj Singh and Mark Manson in the provided search results.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bunty Aur Babli (transl. Bunty and Babli) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Shaad Ali, written by Jaideep Sahni from a story by Aditya Chopra, and produced by Chopra under …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunty_Aur_Babli

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of Hindi cinema films released in 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindi_films_of_2025

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh (1 December 1886 – 29 April 1979) was an Indian independence activist, politician, social reformer, and educationist. He was the president of the provisional government of I…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Mahendra_Pratap_Singh

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 7: “AI expert Scott Waddell pointed out on Medium that you can rein in the soft-soaping by customizing ChatGPT’s personality in the “Preferences” section”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the claim mentions Scott Waddell on Medium, the provided evidence for this claim only contains general descriptions of ChatGPT and its launch. There is no evidence in the provided results confirming the specific 'Preferences' section advice by Scott Waddell, although the general ability to customize AI is a known feature of the platform.

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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT (short for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) [1] is an AI chatbot. It was launched by OpenAI in November 2022. The program was first built using a large language model that OpenAI made,…
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT

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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT is your AI chatbot for everyday use. Chat with the most advanced AI to explore ideas, solve problems, and learn faster.
https://chatgpt.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Nov 30, 2022 · We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challen…
https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.