Ben Bushong
@benbushong.com
Visiting Harvard University and HBS, 25-26
Associate Professor at Michigan State. Formerly: Harvard, Caltech, Oregon.
Using psychology ✕ economics to explore people's beliefs and choices. All opinions my own.
🐶 + 🧠 + 📚 + 🏃🏽+ 🌈 + 🩵
web: benbushong.com
Associate Professor at Michigan State. Formerly: Harvard, Caltech, Oregon.
Using psychology ✕ economics to explore people's beliefs and choices. All opinions my own.
🐶 + 🧠 + 📚 + 🏃🏽+ 🌈 + 🩵
web: benbushong.com
Reposted by Ben Bushong
OpenAI designed the affirming tone of ChatGPT to goose engagement because their business model depends on it. Blanket affirmation and encouragement is how we get people turning to ChatGPT as a therapist AND how we get suicide instructions, deepening delusions, and this shit. It's the business model.
New from 404 Media: ChatGPT told a violent stalker to continue running his misogynistic and threat-filled podcast despite the “haters,” and to visit more gyms to find women. The man stalked women in multiple states, including touching and following from work
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
www.404media.co/chatgpt-spot...
ChatGPT Told a Violent Stalker to Embrace the 'Haters,' Indictment Says
A newly filed indictment claims a wannabe influencer used ChatGPT as his "therapist" and "best friend" in his pursuit of the "wife type," while harassing women so aggressively they had to miss work a...
www.404media.co
December 4, 2025 at 2:15 PM
OpenAI designed the affirming tone of ChatGPT to goose engagement because their business model depends on it. Blanket affirmation and encouragement is how we get people turning to ChatGPT as a therapist AND how we get suicide instructions, deepening delusions, and this shit. It's the business model.
Fascinating. And ya gotta love a good Stata figure.
We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges.
But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.
But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.
December 1, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Fascinating. And ya gotta love a good Stata figure.
How did the President get a transcript of my Thanksgiving toast?
November 28, 2025 at 1:34 PM
How did the President get a transcript of my Thanksgiving toast?
WTF is this?!
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM
WTF is this?!
What in the actual f*#% it's been Amy the whole time?!
November 24, 2025 at 11:16 PM
What in the actual f*#% it's been Amy the whole time?!
Planes Not Uggos™️. Thank you for your attention to this matter -Very Serious Thinker and Road Rules Alumn Sean Duffy
(Okay hot take: I agree with some of these general principles and would appreciate if people didn't treat close-quarters planes like their private spaces. But this guy is a clown.)
(Okay hot take: I agree with some of these general principles and would appreciate if people didn't treat close-quarters planes like their private spaces. But this guy is a clown.)
Sean Duffy: "Dressing with respect -- whether it's a pair of jeans and a decent shirt, I would encourage people to maybe dress a little better which encourages us to maybe behave a little better. Let's try not to wear slippers and pajamas as we come to the airport."
November 24, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Planes Not Uggos™️. Thank you for your attention to this matter -Very Serious Thinker and Road Rules Alumn Sean Duffy
(Okay hot take: I agree with some of these general principles and would appreciate if people didn't treat close-quarters planes like their private spaces. But this guy is a clown.)
(Okay hot take: I agree with some of these general principles and would appreciate if people didn't treat close-quarters planes like their private spaces. But this guy is a clown.)
Hi Bitcoin fans just wondering how that digital store of value is doing? Like, it’s a replacement for gold right and totally not about the crime or scamming right? Hello? Guys?
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Hi Bitcoin fans just wondering how that digital store of value is doing? Like, it’s a replacement for gold right and totally not about the crime or scamming right? Hello? Guys?
I'm not a lawyer, but I *am* a person who studies people's beliefs and the only thing that strikes me as clear from the transcript is that the foreperson was confused as heck.
Halligan's team is now docketing hourly motions explaining that she absolutely, positively DID NOT F— UP the Comey indictment
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 20, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I'm not a lawyer, but I *am* a person who studies people's beliefs and the only thing that strikes me as clear from the transcript is that the foreperson was confused as heck.
Gang, I don't think Grandpa's doing so hot...
November 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Gang, I don't think Grandpa's doing so hot...
Was.... was anybody actually asking this?
C'mon WSJ. This is a joke, right? (If so, it's both well executed and funny!)
C'mon WSJ. This is a joke, right? (If so, it's both well executed and funny!)
Is $200 Million the New $100 Million in Luxury Real Estate?
A surge of ultrarich buyers has pushed asking prices to new extremes, yet many headline-grabbing megamansions languish on the market or trade for a fraction of their debut numbers.
www.wsj.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Was.... was anybody actually asking this?
C'mon WSJ. This is a joke, right? (If so, it's both well executed and funny!)
C'mon WSJ. This is a joke, right? (If so, it's both well executed and funny!)
First impressions, Gemini 3 Pro: the AI (Stock) Apocalypse is still on as scheduled.
November 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM
First impressions, Gemini 3 Pro: the AI (Stock) Apocalypse is still on as scheduled.
I’ve gotten “Yo” four times. This is an epidemic.
I suspect this is so much worse for female instructors, who likely get the “Ms” or “Mrs” treatment on the regular; though I have no direct evidence of this.
I suspect this is so much worse for female instructors, who likely get the “Ms” or “Mrs” treatment on the regular; though I have no direct evidence of this.
A memory imprinted on me from 25 years ago is Claudia Goldin (well on her way to a Nobel Prize) saying her salutation in cold emails to faculty is "Dear Prof. X". Maybe that's overkill, but I truly don't get the mindset of undergrads I've never met emailing "Dear Seema." Weakly dominated strategy.
November 18, 2025 at 11:43 AM
I’ve gotten “Yo” four times. This is an epidemic.
I suspect this is so much worse for female instructors, who likely get the “Ms” or “Mrs” treatment on the regular; though I have no direct evidence of this.
I suspect this is so much worse for female instructors, who likely get the “Ms” or “Mrs” treatment on the regular; though I have no direct evidence of this.
Boy if I had a nickel for every time I heard a guy use that as a pickup line...
November 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Boy if I had a nickel for every time I heard a guy use that as a pickup line...
This isn’t the amazing takedown that the President thinks it is. Go ahead! Charge all criminals with crimes! I love it.
* TRUMP: ASKING DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, FBI TO INVESTIGATE JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S ALLEGED TIES WITH BILL CLINTON, LARRY SUMMERS, REID HOFFMAN, J.P. MORGAN CHASE AND OTHERS
@reuters.com
@reuters.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This isn’t the amazing takedown that the President thinks it is. Go ahead! Charge all criminals with crimes! I love it.
This is some horrific sludge from Alphabet / YoutubeTV.
In order to "claim a credit" you have to click a single button. That's it. Nothing else.
Why not, you know, automatically apply the credit?
In order to "claim a credit" you have to click a single button. That's it. Nothing else.
Why not, you know, automatically apply the credit?
November 11, 2025 at 3:07 PM
This is some horrific sludge from Alphabet / YoutubeTV.
In order to "claim a credit" you have to click a single button. That's it. Nothing else.
Why not, you know, automatically apply the credit?
In order to "claim a credit" you have to click a single button. That's it. Nothing else.
Why not, you know, automatically apply the credit?
Reason #654 why we need to move past Tom Barrett, my Congressman in the Michigan 7th: although I never signed up for email from him, it still comes. On trying to unsubscribe, I found he has a CAPTCHA.
On the unsubscribe. A CAPTCHA.
I can't think of a better metaphor for Republicans at the moment.
On the unsubscribe. A CAPTCHA.
I can't think of a better metaphor for Republicans at the moment.
November 8, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reason #654 why we need to move past Tom Barrett, my Congressman in the Michigan 7th: although I never signed up for email from him, it still comes. On trying to unsubscribe, I found he has a CAPTCHA.
On the unsubscribe. A CAPTCHA.
I can't think of a better metaphor for Republicans at the moment.
On the unsubscribe. A CAPTCHA.
I can't think of a better metaphor for Republicans at the moment.
Sandwich Guy can go back to prowling the street and seasoning the doers of injustice with mustard.
BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.
www.nbcnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Sandwich Guy can go back to prowling the street and seasoning the doers of injustice with mustard.
"They were careless people. [T]hey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
OpenAI walks back comments about government support for its AI spending
OpenAI’s CFO mentioned a potential government “backstop” for AI financing on Wednesday, but later said her choice of words “muddied the point.”
www.marketwatch.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
"They were careless people. [T]hey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
Justice Alito lamenting the speed of a case going through the Court is RICH.
November 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Justice Alito lamenting the speed of a case going through the Court is RICH.
"We have to figure out what regulate importations means."
-Justice Kavanaugh, while sipping on beer*
*Probably.
-Justice Kavanaugh, while sipping on beer*
*Probably.
November 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"We have to figure out what regulate importations means."
-Justice Kavanaugh, while sipping on beer*
*Probably.
-Justice Kavanaugh, while sipping on beer*
*Probably.
"If a tariff is imposed on automobiles, who pays them?"
- Chief Justice John Roberts
GOOD QUESTION. GOOD QUESTION.
- Chief Justice John Roberts
GOOD QUESTION. GOOD QUESTION.
November 5, 2025 at 3:34 PM
"If a tariff is imposed on automobiles, who pays them?"
- Chief Justice John Roberts
GOOD QUESTION. GOOD QUESTION.
- Chief Justice John Roberts
GOOD QUESTION. GOOD QUESTION.
Lol someone is freaking out
November 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Lol someone is freaking out
What's up with all these folks gargling rocks? D. John Sauer is... a difficult listen.
www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...
www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...
Live Oral Argument Audio
Live Oral Argument Audio
www.supremecourt.gov
November 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
What's up with all these folks gargling rocks? D. John Sauer is... a difficult listen.
www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...
www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...
Something something martingale
November 5, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Something something martingale