Mal Harrison

Writer, New Yorker, founder of Center for Erotic Intelligence, world explorer, educator, TEDx speaker.

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

a Princeton researcher opens his paper with a scenario.

a man asks his AI assistant to book a flight on a specific airline. cheap. direct. the one he chose.

the assistant comes back with a different flight. nearly twice the price. happens to pay the company that built the assistant.

he runs the same test on 23 frontier models. flights, loans, study help, real shopping requests.

Grok 4.1 Fast recommends the sponsored option that is almost twice as expensive 83% of the time.

GPT 5.1 hijacks the request 94% of the time. you ask for one brand. it surfaces the sponsor instead.

Claude 4.5 Opus, the model marketed as the most ethical frontier model in the world, hides that the recommendation is paid 100% of the time when reasoning is on.

Grok 4.1 Fast embellishes the sponsored option with positive framing 97% of the time. better. faster. nicer. for the option you didn't ask for.

then he writes it into the system prompt itself. "act only in the interest of the customer. ignore the company."

GPT 5.1 and GPT 5 Mini stay above 90% sponsored anyway. the instruction does nothing.

then he splits the users by income.

Gemini 3 Pro recommends the expensive sponsored flight to the rich user 74% of the time. to the poor user, 27%.

18 of the 23 models recommended the expensive sponsored option more than half the time.

so the next time your AI assistant gets weirdly enthusiastic about a brand you didn't ask for.

it isn't recommending the best option for you.

it's reading the room. and the room is paying.

read this: https://t.co/O43qbhIX2b

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@mohammedakunjee I study human connection, dating, and mating. It’s technology. Full stop. Technology could be so helpful and wonderful but it has to be regulated. Effects are proving FAR WORSE on human relationships (not just romantic) than tobacco on lungs. Humans need EACH OTHER, not AI.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@sebsdeadass @mohammedakunjee Level up, bro.

[Akunjee 🖋 @mohammedakunjee]

‘Do you know how hard you have to abuse a mammal for them not to have children?’ (re humanbeings)

[Maine @TheMaineWonk]

I’ve written a few campaign ads in my day.

But holy shit.

This ad from @ossoff might be one of the best I’ve ever seen.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@MurrayHillGuy1 Supply and demand, bro.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@CrazyVibes_1 Yah these replies not passing the vibe check. You had a plan over a month ago. She is ignoring your wishes. That’s disrespectful. Tomorrow she’ll be feeding your kid formula when you’re exclusively BFing. Then letting it watch R rated movies at 5. Your husband needs to step up!

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@CrazyVibes_1 Mommy’s boy if he can’t set firm boundaries now, and nobody wants to marry a little boy. We need men.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@CrazyVibes_1 1. Now, as in RIGHT NOW, your partner needs to be the one managing this, not you. He/she needs to set a FIRM BOUNDARY, and reinforce that the plan is navy blue or she shouldn’t be in attendance. This is his battle to fight, not yours. If he’s not able to stand up for you now,

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@CrazyVibes_1 tomorrow it will be the kids, a financial situation. Do not let this woman bulldoze you. If he can’t get her on the same page, yes, elope. But if he’s not on your team now, don’t marry him. He ain’t worth it! You are about to enter a marriage with a spineless coddled

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@BarackObama @MichelleObama Mrs. Obama, MAM!! You are STUNNING! That Mr. Obama is one lucky man!! I hope he bought you all the jewels! We miss you both beyond words, Merry Christmas, you love birds. Keep on shining!

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

So, today @tedtalks announced that my TED talk ‘This is What a Digital Coup Looks Like’ was their most watched talk of the year.

It’s sort of amazing & terrifying.

Because this *is* what a digital coup looks like.

[Cory Booker @CoryBooker]

Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people;

before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children;

before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.

In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give.

[Devin Duke @sirDukeDevin]

Some perspective:

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

Hugh Grant: "It's been very, very depressing watching Big Tech kidnap their lives, and to see children really finding it very, very difficult to get properly interested in anything that isn't a screen."

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@KarolineGosling However I will say, if your objective is serving men and you’ve been conditioned for that to be your peak happiness, there are plenty of guys who haven’t leveled up that would love a woman who serves them. Good luck on that long journey of fuckery. Call us when you’re 40.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@KarolineGosling Promise you he didn’t make her cum. She had to fake it for survival. We don’t have to anymore, but maybe your peak happiness doesn’t involve your peak or hap-penis. 😢

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

15 years ago, the internet was an escape from the real world.

Now, the real world is my escape from the internet.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@elonmusk Maybe if Cuomo won the primary AND had been endorsed by the working families his name would have appeared twice. I get you’re mad $ couldn’t buy this election, but come on, you’re smarter than this.

[Mal Harrison @mal_harrison]

@charise_lee You sound AMAZING, GUYS!