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In this episode, we dive into one of the biggest challenges in AI today, bias in large language models. The research shows that these models don’t represent all of humanity; instead, they overwhelmingly reflect the values and psychology of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, or “WEIRD”, societies.

One source frames this as more than just an ethical problem. It’s a real business risk, with potential for legal exposure and reputational damage. Worse still, alignment techniques often create what’s been called an “alignment veneer,” making systems look safe while masking deeper, systemic biases. The other source puts numbers behind this concern, showing through cross-cultural data that LLMs mirror WEIRD thinking styles, essentially becoming parrots of a narrow slice of humanity. Together, they make the case that both businesses and researchers need to go beyond surface-level fixes and build governance models that tackle the cultural imbalance at the core of these systems.

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