music is literally one of the best ways to understand the depths of a person. there’s so much to learn through the way someone hears, appreciates, & interprets music. it’s a cheat code.
DJ Screw’s original mixtape catalog is coming to streaming platforms for the first time:
‘Originals Vol. 1’ is available today, with more of the late Houston legend’s original mixtapes set to be uploaded weekly through the end of June.
Much of DJ Screw’s work was previously only available through cassette rips and unofficial YouTube uploads.
“This is for the fans who’ve always known and for those discovering him now,” the DJ Screw Estate said in a statement. “From a local legend to a global icon, his catalogue will now be accessible everywhere keeping his legacy alive one stream at a time.”
Everyone who goes to my dentist has been urged to get tested for HIV. If I have it and have to disclose this to a future partner, I’m going to sound so full of shit. “No no—I’m not a heroin user. I didn’t even have unprotected sex. The lady who does my Invisalign hates cleaning.”
a Princeton researcher opens his paper with a scenario.
a man asks his AI assistant to book a flight on a specific airline. cheap. direct. the one he chose.
the assistant comes back with a different flight. nearly twice the price. happens to pay the company that built the assistant.
he runs the same test on 23 frontier models. flights, loans, study help, real shopping requests.
Grok 4.1 Fast recommends the sponsored option that is almost twice as expensive 83% of the time.
GPT 5.1 hijacks the request 94% of the time. you ask for one brand. it surfaces the sponsor instead.
Claude 4.5 Opus, the model marketed as the most ethical frontier model in the world, hides that the recommendation is paid 100% of the time when reasoning is on.
Grok 4.1 Fast embellishes the sponsored option with positive framing 97% of the time. better. faster. nicer. for the option you didn't ask for.
then he writes it into the system prompt itself. "act only in the interest of the customer. ignore the company."
GPT 5.1 and GPT 5 Mini stay above 90% sponsored anyway. the instruction does nothing.
then he splits the users by income.
Gemini 3 Pro recommends the expensive sponsored flight to the rich user 74% of the time. to the poor user, 27%.
18 of the 23 models recommended the expensive sponsored option more than half the time.
so the next time your AI assistant gets weirdly enthusiastic about a brand you didn't ask for.
it isn't recommending the best option for you.
it's reading the room. and the room is paying.
read this: https://t.co/O43qbhIX2b