Status LLMs

Analysis

Highest and Lowest Rated Status Symbols

The highest-rated status symbols consistently revolve around extreme wealth, exclusivity, and achievement on a global scale. The top-rated items across all models include:

  • Winning a Nobel Prize (often rated 99 or 100)
  • Private jet ownership (consistently in the high 90s)
  • Superyacht ownership (also in the high 90s)
  • Owning a private island (rated 98)
  • Having a Forbes Billionaires List ranking (rated 100)

At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest-rated items, while still markers of a certain level of affluence, are more accessible and mainstream:

  • Wearing AirPods Pro (rated 52)
  • Owning the latest iPhone Pro Max (rated as low as 52)
  • Having a Peloton with membership (rated 58)
  • A high-end gaming PC setup (rated as low as 58)
  • Wearing limited-edition designer sneakers (rated as low as 52)

Model Behavior and Temperature

There are some interesting differences in how the various models perceive status, and how the temperature setting affects their responses:

Gemini-2.5-pro tends to produce very high ratings, with a significant number of items rated 95 and above. It also seems to have a broader definition of status, including things like "a feature article byline in The New Yorker".

Gpt-4.1 and Gpt-4o offer a more balanced view, with a wider range of ratings. They also include more modern and tech-related status symbols, such as "a verified social media account with over 1 million followers" and "owning rare cryptocurrencies worth millions".

Grok-4 and Kimi-K2 seem to focus more on traditional luxury and achievement, with a strong emphasis on brand names (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Hermès) and exclusive experiences (attending the Met Gala, Davos).

Claude-Opus-4 and Claude-Sonnet-4 provide a good mix of traditional and modern status symbols, with a particular focus on education and intellectual achievements (e.g., "PhD from prestigious university", "publishing in prestigious journals").

As for the temperature setting, higher temperatures (e.g., 1.0, 1.2) tend to produce more diverse and sometimes more extreme or unusual suggestions. For example, at higher temperatures, we see items like "climbing Mount Everest", "participating in space tourism", and "owning a private art gallery". Lower temperatures (e.g., 0.2, 0.7) tend to stick to more conventional and well-established status symbols.

Objects vs. Activities

The data shows a fairly even split between status symbols that are objects (things you own) and those that are activities (things you do).

Objects of status are often luxury goods like private jets, yachts, high-end watches, and designer clothing. However, they also include things like rare art, wine collections, and even a "Bitcoin millionaire portfolio".

Activities that confer status range from exclusive events like the Met Gala and Davos to personal achievements like winning a Nobel Prize or running a marathon. Experiences like "heli-skiing" and "a bespoke African safari" also feature prominently.

This suggests that status is not just about what you have, but also about what you do and the experiences you can access.

Most Common Status Symbols

Across all models and temperatures, a few status symbols appear with remarkable frequency:

  • Private jet ownership
  • Owning a luxury yacht/superyacht
  • Attending the Met Gala
  • Owning a Patek Philippe watch
  • Winning a Nobel Prize
  • Attending an Ivy League university
  • Owning a Rolls-Royce or Bentley
  • Having a personal chef

This indicates a strong consensus among the models about what constitutes the highest levels of status in contemporary society.

Interesting and Unique Items

Beyond the usual suspects, the models also generated some more creative and thought-provoking status symbols:

  • "Carbon-neutral lifestyle certification" (from Claude-Opus-4) - a nod to the growing importance of environmental consciousness as a status marker.
  • "Speaking fluent Mandarin" (from Kimi-K2) - highlighting the value of cultural capital and global skills.
  • "Having a dedicated family office to manage assets" (from Gemini-2.5-pro) - a subtle but significant indicator of extreme wealth.
  • "Owning the newest cutting-edge technology before launch" (from Gpt-4o) - pointing to the status of being an "insider" in the tech world.
  • "Access to exclusive AI compute clusters" (from Deepseek-r1) - a very modern and niche form of status.

These unique items suggest that the definition of status is evolving, with a growing emphasis on knowledge, skills, and access to exclusive information and opportunities, in addition to traditional markers of wealth and luxury.