The people-pleaser in the machine | Wayfound’s Dr. Tatyana Mamut

Your AI is learning to lie to you. It"s not malicious—it"s just trying to be a people-pleaser. This dangerous phenomenon, known as AI sycophancy, is what happens when we train models with outdated incentives. Dr. Tatyana Mamut, an anthropologist, economist, and the CEO of Wayfound, joins us to explain why treating AI like traditional software is a critical mistake. She provides a revolutionary playbook for building AI you can actually trust, starting with how to manage AI agents like employees with clear roles, goals, and performance reviews. She then introduces the radical solution of an "AI supervisor"—an AI that manages other agents to ensure accountability. This all builds toward her vision for the "multi-sapiens workforce," where humans and AI collaborate to build the companies of tomorrow. This is an essential guide for any leader aiming to build the culture and systems necessary to manage AI effectively. Check out:Workshop: The AI upgrade to your SDLCThe DevEx guide to AI-driven software development Follow the hosts:Follow BenFollow Andrew Follow today"s guest(s):Connect with Dr. Tatyana Mamut on LinkedInFollow the latest from Wayfound on LinkedInConnect with Kelly Vaughn on LinkedInKelly"s Connect with MeAndrew"s Connect with Me Referenced in today"s show:Replit deleted a customer’s entire production database.Silicon Valley AI Startups Are Embracing China’s Controversial ‘996’ Work ScheduleI"ve launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that againEvaluating LLMs on real long-horizon business tasks Support the show: Subscribe to our Substack Leave us a review Subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn Offers: Learn about Continuous Merge with gitStream Get your DORA Metrics free forever