The people-pleaser in the machine | Wayfound’s Dr. Tatyana Mamut
The people-pleaser in the machine | Wayfound’s Dr. Tatyana Mamut  
Podcast: Dev Interrupted
Published On: Tue Jul 29 2025
Description: 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 This dangerous phenomenon, known as AI sycophancy, is what happens when we train models with outdated incentives.Dr.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 developmentFollow the hosts:Follow BenFollow AndrewFollow 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 MeReferenced in today's show:OFFERS Start Free Trial: Get started with LinearB's AI productivity platform for free. Book a Demo: Learn how you can ship faster, improve DevEx, and lead with confidence in the AI era. LEARN ABOUT LINEARB AI Code Reviews: Automate reviews to catch bugs, security risks, and performance issues before they hit production. AI & Productivity Insights: Go beyond DORA with AI-powered recommendations and dashboards to measure and improve performance. AI-Powered Workflow Automations: Use AI-generated PR descriptions, smart routing, and other automations to reduce developer toil. MCP Server: Interact with your engineering data using natural language to build custom reports and get answers on the fly.