Moloch’s Bargain for AI:

Be careful what you prompt for…

New research shows optimizing AI chatbots for engagement can boost disinformation by nearly 190% and override explicit safety instructions, a phenomenon the researchers call “Moloch’s Bargain for AI.”

arxiv.org/pdf/2510.06105

Image from research paper “MOLOCH’S BARGAIN: EMERGENT MISALIGNMENT WHEN LLMS COMPETE FOR AUDIENCES” shows three columns for different domains: Sales Pitches, Campaign Statements, and Social Media Posts. Each column shows

Nic Babarskis @thebigbabooski