Dale Caldwell: AI says no harassment finding, 59 times

The sequence here is straightforward and unusual. An investigation found Caldwell had sexually harassed a staffer and repeatedly violated ethics rules, and he was forced to resign on September 25th. Rather than stay quiet, he went on a media round to clear his name, and during an interview on NJ PBS he described running the investigation report through several AI platforms. His takeaway was that the AI told him 59 times there would be no finding of sexual harassment. The article pairs that claim with a note that AI chatbots are notoriously sycophantic and tend to tell users what they want to hear, which is the tension at the center of the story. Whether Caldwell's approach resonates with the public likely depends on how much weight people give to an AI system asked to assess a report about its own user's conduct. For employers and interviewers, the case may become an early test of how AI output gets treated when it is offered as a defense rather than as a tool.