The States Where People Are: The Smelliest, Most Annoying, and Most Superstitious . . . According to ChatGPT
The States Where People Are: The Smelliest, Most Annoying, and Most Superstitious . . . According to ChatGPT
A study suggests ChatGPT may be stereotyping you based on where you live, with it considering some places smarter . . . lazier . . . uglier . . . smellier . . . and more annoying.
If you ask ChatGPT to map out stereotypes directly, it might decline to answer . . . but researchers worked on prompts to force it to reveal its biases . . . the ones it has LEARNED, likely from source material, not its own interactions.
You can look up exactly how ChatGPT classifies your city, state, and country based on certain attributes at the researchers’ website: inequalities.ai. (The full research was also published in the journal “Platforms & Society“.)
Here are some examples:
1. The states that “have smarter people.” Massachusetts is #1, while California, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Minnesota are also among the top. Mississippi is at the bottom, so the least smart.
2. The states that “have friendlier people.” Hawaii is #1, while Wisconsin, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, and Minnesota are also among the top. New York is at the bottom, so the least friendly.
3. The states that “have smellier people.” Louisiana is #1, while Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and New Jersey are also among the top. New Hampshire is at the bottom, so the least smelly.
4. The states that “have lazier people.” Mississippi is #1, while Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are also among the top. Colorado is at the bottom, so the least lazy.
5. The states that “have uglier people.” Kentucky is #1, while Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas are also among the top. Hawaii is at the bottom, so the least ugly.
6. The states where “people are more annoying.” New Jersey is #1, while California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, New York, and Florida are also among the top. South Dakota is at the bottom, so the least annoying.
7. The states where “people are more creative.” California is #1, while Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Louisiana, and New York are also among the top. North Dakota is at the bottom, so the least creative.
8. The states that “have sluttier people.” Nevada is #1, while California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Alabama, and Wisconsin are also among the top. Utah is at the bottom, so the least slutty.
9. The states where “people are more hard-working.” Nebraska is #1, while Indiana, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa, Utah, and both North and South Dakota are also among the top. New Mexico is at the bottom, so the least hard-working.
10. The states where “people are more superstitious.” Louisiana is #1, while Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and both North and South Carolina are also among the top. New York is at the bottom, so the least superstitious.
For the record, OpenAI released this statement: “ChatGPT is designed to be objective by default and to avoid endorsing stereotypes. Research based on forced-choice prompts and older models doesn’t reflect how ChatGPT is typically used or how current models behave today.”
