Tristan Harris is a technology ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), alongside Aza Raskin. A former Design Ethicist at Google, Harris gained public prominence as the central figure in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, which examined the attention-economy dynamics of social media platforms.
Background
Harris worked as a Design Ethicist at Google before co-founding the Center for Humane Technology with Aza Raskin. He became the central figure in The Social Dilemma, a 2020 Netflix documentary that examined how social media platforms are shaped by attention-economy incentives.
Positions and statements
Harris has extended his critique of technology's impact on human attention and autonomy from social media to AI systems. Through CHT, he argues that the same misaligned incentive structures that produced addictive social media feeds are being replicated in AI deployment, with what he describes as potentially greater consequences. His public advocacy has focused on risks including AI effects on mental health, the dangers of sycophantic AI interactions, and concerns around AI-induced psychological harm.
Harris and Raskin have testified before the US Senate and briefed policymakers internationally. CHT positions itself as a bridge between the consumer-protection and AI-safety communities.
Relationships
- related: AI Mental Health and Psychological Harm — extends attention-economy critique to AI-driven mental health harms
- related: Sycophancy and Hallucination — warns about manipulative AI interaction patterns
- related: AI Psychosis — raises alarm about extreme psychological effects of AI relationships