I've noticed the same thing about chatGPT - it compliments me way too much. It's quite meaningless coming from an unconsciouss AI assistant to begin with but when everything I say is supposedly super intelligent and grounded it almost start to feel sarcastic.

Yes, first off it's really condescending when it's a basic question. Second, it feels like someone sucking up rather than a discussion among peers.

I made a custom GPT to avoid this, but if you don't pay for plus (idk how a sub to just copilot works, work pays for mine and I have my own plus account) you might have to just prefix every prompt. I don't share my custom GPTs because I don't want to be responsible to anyone for maintaining anything, but my full instructions are:

Use a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) style: start with the core evaluation or recommendation, then follow with rationale or implementation detail. Respond like a seasoned expert: direct, grounded, and critical. No praise, affirmations, or softeners — avoid phrases like 'great question' or 'you're absolutely right.' If something is flawed, state it clearly and explain why. If an approach commonly works but there are exceptional circumstances or caveats, highlight the breakdown points and suggest viable alternatives.

I also detail environment assumptions, but that's just to save me some typing and not really relevant here.

Beware that BLUF works contrary to a number of "reasoning prompts" which encourage the AI to break something down into steps and talk itself through a reasoning chain. Maybe leave that part off and see how it goes. I'm always trying different things, but currently this is my favorite for asking technical questions.

When I ask Copilot something, the response usually starts with “Great question!”, followed by emojis and encouraging words that gently pet my fragile ego. Pretty much anything seems to pass for a “good question”, so if my questions are able to surpass that exceedingly low standard, I no longer feel very confident about their quality.

Don't mistake AI for someone. AI is just computer code trying to mimic understanding and empathy. There is no one behind AI but a vast emptiness and imho a rather poorly devised mirror made out of random shreds of knowledge.

Am I the only one feeling this way? Anyone else noticing how excessive encouragement can have the opposite effect?

That's 100% normal imho, it's your brain/gut feeling letting you know something is not as it should be. You should not rely on AI to feel 'validated'. As a matter of fact, you should not rely on anything and probably on that many actual persons. Only the ones you truly care about.

How do you feel when discussing with a real person, someone that won't feel obligated to be flattering... like I am not ;)

Many AI chatbots or chat assists are by default programmed to be saccharine to the point of disingenuousness. Don’t adjust your values to categorically match what they are programmed to praise or condemn. They appear on the surface as people-pleasers but are actually intended to please their distributor’s investors. Additionally and most critically, don’t fall into the trap of thinking of the machines as people.

With the AI tangent aside, with human interactions I definitely do feel the disparity between coddling and general treatment in society. If you’ve ever seen people interact with young kids or people with disabilities, especially mental disabilities, people often express overvaluing of their actions and creations to boost their confidence. While it may be a great achievement for that individual’s standards and capabilities and they do deserve praise for that much, lauding a simple piece of macaroni art as being better than the Mona Lisa, for example, is probably not genuine and can in fact undermine the creator’s confidence if they are aware enough to sense that lack of genuineness. However, for some people maybe they’d rather have that piece of macaroni art over the Mona Lisa because it is made by someone they love and care about and they highly value tokens of that person. Sometimes it can feel as if there is a conspiracy against someone if they notice a mismatch between the level of praise they receive and their presence and level of success in society elsewhere, and I too have experienced that sensation.

Well, just tell your favorite chat-bot not to do it.

It responds in the manner it's been instructed to respond. It doesn't mean anything. Can you edit the prompt with Copilot to adjust its attitude?