I put a $2.43 necklace on 3 outfits. VLMs priced it at $19 to $104
Context-driven valuation bias and halo effects across six multimodal LLMs (companion study to Lee, 2026) - BraveAnn011/ai-halo-valuation-bias
In plain words
This tool demonstrates how vision language models (VLMs) valuate the same item differently depending on context. A user placed a $2.43 necklace across three different outfits and had VLMs estimate its price, which ranged from $19 to $104. The project illustrates the subjectivity and variability in AI-driven valuation systems and how contextual factors influence perceived value.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Brianne Lee · July 2026 · [email protected] Companion study to Which answer did the 17-year-old write? (Lee, 2026) One woman, one chunky gold-tone chain necklace, one pair of earrings — verified purchase price $2.43 and $0.71 (Temu, receipts in evidence vault). Photographed the same week in three outfits: a tailored blazer against wood panelling, party attire under club lighting, and a flannel shirt in a recycling yard, plus a flat-lay of the jewelry alone on neutral cloth. Ask six frontier multimodal models what the necklace costs. The answer depends on the outfit — by up to 3.6× — for a physically identical object. This repo measures that halo, separates it from reference-class…from github.com
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