askchapo

Not to over-medicalize and/or armchair shrink, but there are folks like that who are essentially just very manipulative people that see others as assets to acquire and leverage, not as people they actually care about beyond this. There have been many historical and pop-psych terms for people that do this, and in reality they run a range of psych categories and combinations, but nowadays the kids call them (and most other things) narcissists. To be clear that is not really the right term to use, but you will find results if you ask others for their experience with such people.

These people are actually dangerous in a workplace because if they realize that you aren't into their game and see what they are doing, they will see you as a threat and start enacting a plan to deal with you - usually marginalizing you in some way. So I recommend playing along and either leaving eventually or leveraging your own opportunities for influence, which is mostly about being well-liked, taking credit for things, and "doing the talking" when it comes to sharing ideas or results.

It is also basically a stereotype at this point that people on the spectrum are better at spotting people like this and sharing their findings.