LessWrong posts by zvi

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**LessWrong posts by zvi**

Audio narrations of LessWrong posts by zvi

Latest Episodes:

News article screenshot. The headline reads: — **“Housing Roundup #15: The War Against Renters” by Zvi** May 04, 2026
Show notes

So many are under the strange belief that there is something terrible about not owning the house in which you live.

So we massively subsidize home ownership, and try to actively interfere with renting.

Except when we do rent control, which turns renting into a form of owning, and allows us to take real property and de facto give it to current renters.

A lot of this is pure attempts to punish and exclude the poor. If you can’t afford a downpayment, we don’t want you living here. Go away.

Some of it is the belief that when you rent, you are being ‘taken advantage of’ and that such a deal could not possibly be fair.

Some of it is that if you don’t own, you don’t have the incentive to drive up property values. Which means you won’t properly work to ‘improve’ your local area, especially that you won’t conspire to block housing.

The result of this is that if you’re not willing to commit to living in one place for years, or you can’t afford a down payment, you get punished, and punished hard.

**Owning Versus Renting**

The graph [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:08) Owning Versus Renting
(03:11) Build To Rent Is Good Actually
(08:16) Elizabeth Warren, Full Supervillain
(09:44) The Better Case Against Corporate Housing Ownership
(11:50) The ROAD Act Bans Building And Then Renting Houses
(14:17) Rental Covenants
(15:09) Extended Eviction Delay After Nonpayment Is Mostly Bad
(16:51) Los Angeles Renting
(19:30) Sufficiently Advanced Rent Control Is Indistinguishable From Ownership
(23:05) England Tries To Ban Renting
(24:36) Claude Rental Discounts

---

First published:
May 4th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jW4TeNZhxBA9Fzdim/housing-roundup-15-the-war-against-renters

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Line graph comparing monthly costs of buying versus renting homes in America from 1970 to 2022. — **“Housing Roundup #15: The War Against Renters” by Zvi** May 04, 2026
Show notes

So many are under the strange belief that there is something terrible about not owning the house in which you live.

So we massively subsidize home ownership, and try to actively interfere with renting.

Except when we do rent control, which turns renting into a form of owning, and allows us to take real property and de facto give it to current renters.

A lot of this is pure attempts to punish and exclude the poor. If you can’t afford a downpayment, we don’t want you living here. Go away.

Some of it is the belief that when you rent, you are being ‘taken advantage of’ and that such a deal could not possibly be fair.

Some of it is that if you don’t own, you don’t have the incentive to drive up property values. Which means you won’t properly work to ‘improve’ your local area, especially that you won’t conspire to block housing.

The result of this is that if you’re not willing to commit to living in one place for years, or you can’t afford a down payment, you get punished, and punished hard.

**Owning Versus Renting**

The graph [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:08) Owning Versus Renting
(03:11) Build To Rent Is Good Actually
(08:16) Elizabeth Warren, Full Supervillain
(09:44) The Better Case Against Corporate Housing Ownership
(11:50) The ROAD Act Bans Building And Then Renting Houses
(14:17) Rental Covenants
(15:09) Extended Eviction Delay After Nonpayment Is Mostly Bad
(16:51) Los Angeles Renting
(19:30) Sufficiently Advanced Rent Control Is Indistinguishable From Ownership
(23:05) England Tries To Ban Renting
(24:36) Claude Rental Discounts

---

First published:
May 4th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jW4TeNZhxBA9Fzdim/housing-roundup-15-the-war-against-renters

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Four charming historic town streets with colorful buildings and streetlights. — **“Housing Roundup #14: You Can’t Build That” by Zvi** May 01, 2026
Show notes

Why can’t you build it?

Because you aren’t allowed to build it. Not in the place you want to build it.

Or at least, not the way you want, to the extent you want it, at any sane price and on any reasonable schedule. The government will not let you.

Here are some of the ways that plays out.

One way they prevent this is so-called ‘affordable housing,’ which gives out lottery tickets while overall making housing less affordable.

**Yelling Fire Risk In A Crowded City**

Don’t hate the firefighters, hate the fire department and the zoning code.

City Aesthetics: We could still build places that feel like this….

Jason (referring to lower left photo): Fire department response to site plan & sample photo:

-Street width doesn’t meet NFPA. Widen or remove street parking.

-Buildings too close to street. Need 15-30’ from curb to face.

-Trees likely need to go as they block easy ladder access.

-Where's the fire lane?

Seth Largo: You have the courage to hate the rich. You may even have the courage to hate “disabled” vets. But do you have the courage [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:37) Yelling Fire Risk In A Crowded City
(02:14) Beauty
(06:24) Historical Preservation Is Out Of Hand
(08:03) You Only Need One Staircase
(09:34) Zoning Run Amok
(11:18) Elevator Action
(11:54) The Hookup
(14:56) Affordable Housing
(16:02) Actually Affordable Housing
(18:22) Affordable Housing Only Worse
(20:56) Remember Who The Enemy Is
(22:08) San Francisco Hates Your Stove
(22:49) Los Angeles Not Building
(27:49) New York City
(36:53) Baltimore
(37:05) Charlottesville
(37:35) New Hampshire
(38:07) California
(44:05) Bipartisanship
(44:28) California Forever
(45:52) History
(46:16) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
May 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WC69ZpLJ2LYdSMXqb/housing-roundup-14-you-can-t-build-that

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Graph showing regression coefficients for potential explanations of opposition to dense development across three panels. — **“Housing Roundup #14: You Can’t Build That” by Zvi** May 01, 2026
Show notes

Why can’t you build it?

Because you aren’t allowed to build it. Not in the place you want to build it.

Or at least, not the way you want, to the extent you want it, at any sane price and on any reasonable schedule. The government will not let you.

Here are some of the ways that plays out.

One way they prevent this is so-called ‘affordable housing,’ which gives out lottery tickets while overall making housing less affordable.

**Yelling Fire Risk In A Crowded City**

Don’t hate the firefighters, hate the fire department and the zoning code.

City Aesthetics: We could still build places that feel like this….

Jason (referring to lower left photo): Fire department response to site plan & sample photo:

-Street width doesn’t meet NFPA. Widen or remove street parking.

-Buildings too close to street. Need 15-30’ from curb to face.

-Trees likely need to go as they block easy ladder access.

-Where's the fire lane?

Seth Largo: You have the courage to hate the rich. You may even have the courage to hate “disabled” vets. But do you have the courage [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:37) Yelling Fire Risk In A Crowded City
(02:14) Beauty
(06:24) Historical Preservation Is Out Of Hand
(08:03) You Only Need One Staircase
(09:34) Zoning Run Amok
(11:18) Elevator Action
(11:54) The Hookup
(14:56) Affordable Housing
(16:02) Actually Affordable Housing
(18:22) Affordable Housing Only Worse
(20:56) Remember Who The Enemy Is
(22:08) San Francisco Hates Your Stove
(22:49) Los Angeles Not Building
(27:49) New York City
(36:53) Baltimore
(37:05) Charlottesville
(37:35) New Hampshire
(38:07) California
(44:05) Bipartisanship
(44:28) California Forever
(45:52) History
(46:16) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
May 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WC69ZpLJ2LYdSMXqb/housing-roundup-14-you-can-t-build-that

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Sarah Miller reposted a tweet by Douglas Farrar that reads: — **“Housing Roundup #13: More Dakka” by Zvi** May 01, 2026
Show notes

Build more housing where people want to live.

The rest is commentary. If there is enough housing, it will be affordable, people will afford more house, and people will be able to live where they want to live.

It's always been that simple.

Increased supply of any kind of housing increases affordability of all kinds of housing.

Are there other things that would also be helpful? Yes, but they’re commentary.

Freeing up existing underused housing, for example, is helpful. It is commentary.

Let's enjoy the lull and see how much of an Infrastructure Week we can do.

**New Levels Of Saying Quiet Part Out Loud Even For This Guy**

Trump opposes building houses where people want to live, because doing so would let people live there, which would drive down the value of existing homes.

Acyn: Trump: I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people who own their homes. You can be sure that will happen.

unusual_whales: Trump: when you make it too easy and cheap to build houses, house prices come down. I don’t want to do that.

[...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:48) New Levels Of Saying Quiet Part Out Loud Even For This Guy
(02:30) Whose Side Are You On
(03:25) Your Intervention Only Partly Solves The Problem So We Are Against It
(04:21) More Dakka
(05:32) Abundance
(06:43) Changes In Rent Are Largely About Changes In Supply
(07:30) Austin
(08:46) America
(10:02) Minnesota
(11:20) Debunking Obvious Nonsense About Monopolistic Practices
(21:25) Age Of The Median Homebuyer
(24:26) Property Taxes Improve Allocation Efficiency
(27:20) More Of Old People Inefficiently And Systematically Stealing From Young People

---

First published:
May 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dwNgPrBtAHye2vuwS/housing-roundup-13-more-dakka-1

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Table showing — **“Housing Roundup #13: More Dakka” by Zvi** May 01, 2026
Show notes

Build more housing where people want to live.

The rest is commentary. If there is enough housing, it will be affordable, people will afford more house, and people will be able to live where they want to live.

It's always been that simple.

Increased supply of any kind of housing increases affordability of all kinds of housing.

Are there other things that would also be helpful? Yes, but they’re commentary.

Freeing up existing underused housing, for example, is helpful. It is commentary.

Let's enjoy the lull and see how much of an Infrastructure Week we can do.

**New Levels Of Saying Quiet Part Out Loud Even For This Guy**

Trump opposes building houses where people want to live, because doing so would let people live there, which would drive down the value of existing homes.

Acyn: Trump: I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people who own their homes. You can be sure that will happen.

unusual_whales: Trump: when you make it too easy and cheap to build houses, house prices come down. I don’t want to do that.

[...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:48) New Levels Of Saying Quiet Part Out Loud Even For This Guy
(02:30) Whose Side Are You On
(03:25) Your Intervention Only Partly Solves The Problem So We Are Against It
(04:21) More Dakka
(05:32) Abundance
(06:43) Changes In Rent Are Largely About Changes In Supply
(07:30) Austin
(08:46) America
(10:02) Minnesota
(11:20) Debunking Obvious Nonsense About Monopolistic Practices
(21:25) Age Of The Median Homebuyer
(24:26) Property Taxes Improve Allocation Efficiency
(27:20) More Of Old People Inefficiently And Systematically Stealing From Young People

---

First published:
May 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dwNgPrBtAHye2vuwS/housing-roundup-13-more-dakka-1

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

“AI #166: Google Sells Out” by Zvi Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

“The Most Important Charts In The World” by Zvi Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

We all need a break so: What is the most important chart in the world? I decided to ask Twitter, and got a lot of good answers. So today, with few of my picks, I present: The Most Important Charts In The World. You’ve got to admit it's getting better. Better all the time. Mostly. The Original Most Important Chart The context for this is the METR graph, which is often given that label, where the x-axis is release date and the y-axis is the log-scale time horizon for AI models doing software tasks with a 50% or 80% success rate, usually people use the 50% graph: If AI models continue to be able to do increasingly long tasks fully autonomously, and trends continue, this suggests we are not too far from a point where AI can do its own AI R&D, with the result of ‘rapid capability advancement,’ also known are Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI) or ‘escape velocity,’ after which… well, no one really knows, but the world presumably transforms into something even more bizarre and inexplicable, which may or may not contain humans or have any value. This has been your [...] ---Outline:(00:31) The Original Most Important Chart(01:39) Show Me The Money(01:53) Bad Things Happen Less(03:38) The Exponential(05:56) Find Out(06:31) Fertility Crisis(06:49) However You Look At It(07:07) Important Things To Know --- First published:April 29th, 2026 Source:https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vi9KSXWXrPtap9mfR/the-most-important-charts-in-the-world --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Full show notes at the publisher

Digital composite of human face merging with data visualization interface. — **“GPT-5.5: Capabilities and Reactions” by Zvi** Apr 28, 2026
Show notes

The system card for GPT-5.5 mostly told us what we expected. See this thread from Drake Thomas for some comparisons to Anthropic's model card for Opus 4.7.

Now we move on to asking what it means in practice, and in what situations GPT-5.5 should become our new weapon of choice.

My answer is for some purposes yes, and for others no, but it is now competitive. GPT-5.5 is like GPT-5.4, only more so, and with improved capabilities in particular on raw intelligence and for well-specified coding and agent tasks, including computer use.

This is the first time since Claude Opus 4.5 came out, so in about four months, that I’ve considered a non-Anthropic model a competitive choice outside of some narrow tasks like web search. GPT-5.5 is not perfect, nor is it the best at everything, but basically everyone thinks this is a solid upgrade. Highly positive overall feedback.

My effective usage is now split between the two, depending on the nature of the task. If it's something that can be well-specified and all I want is the right answer, my instinct is I go with GPT-5.5. If I’m not sure what exactly I want [...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:20) The Official Pitch
(07:49) Our Price Cheap
(08:29) Official Benchmarks
(11:58) SemiAnalysis Doublecheck
(12:38) Other Peoples Benchmarks
(16:00) Vend That Bench
(19:06) Planning Is Essential
(20:43) Choose Your Fighter
(22:44) Cyber Lack Of Security
(23:12) You Get What You Give
(24:20) True Story
(25:33) Ethan Mollick Thinks GPT-5.5 Is A Big Deal
(26:04) SemiAnalysis Loves GPT-5.5 Especially In Codex
(28:27) Choose Your Fighter
(29:13) Positive Reactions
(36:59) Lazy and Literal
(38:09) Goblins, Gremlins and Trolls, Oh My
(40:02) Other Reactions
(40:34) Claude Ambition
(41:00) Other Notes

---

First published:
April 28th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5ytcFayxqZsXN8rNw/gpt-5-5-capabilities-and-reactions

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

A table comparing performance benchmarks across six AI models on various tests. — **“GPT-5.5: Capabilities and Reactions” by Zvi** Apr 28, 2026
Show notes

The system card for GPT-5.5 mostly told us what we expected. See this thread from Drake Thomas for some comparisons to Anthropic's model card for Opus 4.7.

Now we move on to asking what it means in practice, and in what situations GPT-5.5 should become our new weapon of choice.

My answer is for some purposes yes, and for others no, but it is now competitive. GPT-5.5 is like GPT-5.4, only more so, and with improved capabilities in particular on raw intelligence and for well-specified coding and agent tasks, including computer use.

This is the first time since Claude Opus 4.5 came out, so in about four months, that I’ve considered a non-Anthropic model a competitive choice outside of some narrow tasks like web search. GPT-5.5 is not perfect, nor is it the best at everything, but basically everyone thinks this is a solid upgrade. Highly positive overall feedback.

My effective usage is now split between the two, depending on the nature of the task. If it's something that can be well-specified and all I want is the right answer, my instinct is I go with GPT-5.5. If I’m not sure what exactly I want [...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:20) The Official Pitch
(07:49) Our Price Cheap
(08:29) Official Benchmarks
(11:58) SemiAnalysis Doublecheck
(12:38) Other Peoples Benchmarks
(16:00) Vend That Bench
(19:06) Planning Is Essential
(20:43) Choose Your Fighter
(22:44) Cyber Lack Of Security
(23:12) You Get What You Give
(24:20) True Story
(25:33) Ethan Mollick Thinks GPT-5.5 Is A Big Deal
(26:04) SemiAnalysis Loves GPT-5.5 Especially In Codex
(28:27) Choose Your Fighter
(29:13) Positive Reactions
(36:59) Lazy and Literal
(38:09) Goblins, Gremlins and Trolls, Oh My
(40:02) Other Reactions
(40:34) Claude Ambition
(41:00) Other Notes

---

First published:
April 28th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5ytcFayxqZsXN8rNw/gpt-5-5-capabilities-and-reactions

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Artistic portrait blending human face with mathematical formulas and data visualizations. — **“GPT 5.5: The System Card” by Zvi** Apr 27, 2026
Show notes

Last week, OpenAI announced GPT-5.5, including GPT-5.5-Pro.

My overall read here is that GPT-5.5 is a solid improvement, and for many purposes GPT-5.5 is competitive with Claude Opus. Reactions are still coming in and it is early. My guess on the shape is that GPT-5.5 is the pick for ‘just the facts’ queries, web searches or straightforward well-specified requests, and Claude Opus 4.7 is the choice for more open ended or interpretive purposes. Coders can consider a hybrid approach.

On the alignment and safety fronts, it is unlikely to pose new big risks, and its alignment seems similar to that of previous models. There is some small additional risk arising from its improved agentic abilities, including computer use.

As always, when it is available, the system or model card is where we start.

OpenAI does not drop the giant doorstops that Anthropic gives us with every release.

After reading the Mythos and Opus 4.7 model cards, this strikes me as stingy. There's still good info here, but overall it tells you relatively little about what is going on, and feels incurious and more pro forma.

I would like to see a ‘yes and’ [...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:36) Pro Versus Proxy
(02:59) Disallowed Content (3.1)
(04:20) Dont Delete Data (3.3)
(04:56) Confirmation Confirmation (3.4)
(05:22) Jailbreaks (4.1)
(05:34) Prompt Injections (4.2)
(06:33) Health (5)
(06:56) Hallucinations (6)
(08:01) Alignment (7)
(11:28) Bias Evaluation (8)
(11:57) Preparedness (9)
(13:04) Bio (9.1.1)
(15:20) Cybersecurity (9.1.2)
(17:46) Self-Improvement (9.1.3)
(18:46) Sandbagging (9.2)
(19:46) Safeguards (9.3)
(21:41) What About Model Welfare?
(22:31) Would This Have Identified A Problem?

---

First published:
April 27th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/86zcwvuBpE4vxAeQz/gpt-5-5-the-system-card

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Table showing production benchmarks with challenging prompts across four GPT models for nine safety categories. — **“GPT 5.5: The System Card” by Zvi** Apr 27, 2026
Show notes

Last week, OpenAI announced GPT-5.5, including GPT-5.5-Pro.

My overall read here is that GPT-5.5 is a solid improvement, and for many purposes GPT-5.5 is competitive with Claude Opus. Reactions are still coming in and it is early. My guess on the shape is that GPT-5.5 is the pick for ‘just the facts’ queries, web searches or straightforward well-specified requests, and Claude Opus 4.7 is the choice for more open ended or interpretive purposes. Coders can consider a hybrid approach.

On the alignment and safety fronts, it is unlikely to pose new big risks, and its alignment seems similar to that of previous models. There is some small additional risk arising from its improved agentic abilities, including computer use.

As always, when it is available, the system or model card is where we start.

OpenAI does not drop the giant doorstops that Anthropic gives us with every release.

After reading the Mythos and Opus 4.7 model cards, this strikes me as stingy. There's still good info here, but overall it tells you relatively little about what is going on, and feels incurious and more pro forma.

I would like to see a ‘yes and’ [...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:36) Pro Versus Proxy
(02:59) Disallowed Content (3.1)
(04:20) Dont Delete Data (3.3)
(04:56) Confirmation Confirmation (3.4)
(05:22) Jailbreaks (4.1)
(05:34) Prompt Injections (4.2)
(06:33) Health (5)
(06:56) Hallucinations (6)
(08:01) Alignment (7)
(11:28) Bias Evaluation (8)
(11:57) Preparedness (9)
(13:04) Bio (9.1.1)
(15:20) Cybersecurity (9.1.2)
(17:46) Self-Improvement (9.1.3)
(18:46) Sandbagging (9.2)
(19:46) Safeguards (9.3)
(21:41) What About Model Welfare?
(22:31) Would This Have Identified A Problem?

---

First published:
April 27th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/86zcwvuBpE4vxAeQz/gpt-5-5-the-system-card

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Lyft tweets: — **“Monthly Roundup #41: April 2025” by Zvi** Apr 24, 2026
Show notes

AI continue to accelerate and dominate the schedule, which is why this is a bit late, but we do occasionally need to pay our respects to the Goddess of Everything Else.

There's cool or interesting things everywhere. Also maddenning things. But did you hear, for example, that they’re making some exceptions to the Jones Act?

**Table of Contents**

Bad News.

Good Advice.

Opportunity Knocks.

Who Judges The Judges.

Close Socrates.

While I Cannot Condone This.

Good News, Everyone.

Violence Is Never The Answer.

For Your Entertainment.

Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game.

I’ve Got The Magic In Me.

I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars.

Sports Go Sports.

Robot Umps Now.

The NBA Needs A Redesign.

Government Working.

Levels of Friction.

Jones Act Watch.

Technology Advances.

Variously Effective Altruism.

Copious Free Time.

The Lighter Side.

**Bad News**

Seth Burn points out that if Google wanted to avoid fake reviews, the ‘report review’ feature would have an option for ‘this is a fake review.’ It doesn’t.

Apple by default stores [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:32) Bad News
(05:16) Good Advice
(06:28) Opportunity Knocks
(06:57) Who Judges The Judges
(08:47) Close Socrates
(14:24) While I Cannot Condone This
(15:47) Good News, Everyone
(16:39) Violence Is Never The Answer
(17:17) For Your Entertainment
(21:03) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game
(24:29) Ive Got The Magic In Me
(30:35) I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars
(36:09) Sports Go Sports
(40:04) Robot Umps Now
(41:49) The NBA Needs A Redesign
(48:13) Government Working
(56:11) Levels of Friction
(57:10) Jones Act Watch
(01:02:27) Technology Advances
(01:02:56) Variously Effective Altruism
(01:09:13) Copious Free Time
(01:10:57) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
April 24th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Bo4FbDxb3YrZwap3J/monthly-roundup-41-april-2025

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Calvin and Hobbes comic strip about control freaks and taking charge. — **“Monthly Roundup #41: April 2025” by Zvi** Apr 24, 2026
Show notes

AI continue to accelerate and dominate the schedule, which is why this is a bit late, but we do occasionally need to pay our respects to the Goddess of Everything Else.

There's cool or interesting things everywhere. Also maddenning things. But did you hear, for example, that they’re making some exceptions to the Jones Act?

**Table of Contents**

Bad News.

Good Advice.

Opportunity Knocks.

Who Judges The Judges.

Close Socrates.

While I Cannot Condone This.

Good News, Everyone.

Violence Is Never The Answer.

For Your Entertainment.

Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game.

I’ve Got The Magic In Me.

I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars.

Sports Go Sports.

Robot Umps Now.

The NBA Needs A Redesign.

Government Working.

Levels of Friction.

Jones Act Watch.

Technology Advances.

Variously Effective Altruism.

Copious Free Time.

The Lighter Side.

**Bad News**

Seth Burn points out that if Google wanted to avoid fake reviews, the ‘report review’ feature would have an option for ‘this is a fake review.’ It doesn’t.

Apple by default stores [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:32) Bad News
(05:16) Good Advice
(06:28) Opportunity Knocks
(06:57) Who Judges The Judges
(08:47) Close Socrates
(14:24) While I Cannot Condone This
(15:47) Good News, Everyone
(16:39) Violence Is Never The Answer
(17:17) For Your Entertainment
(21:03) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game
(24:29) Ive Got The Magic In Me
(30:35) I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars
(36:09) Sports Go Sports
(40:04) Robot Umps Now
(41:49) The NBA Needs A Redesign
(48:13) Government Working
(56:11) Levels of Friction
(57:10) Jones Act Watch
(01:02:27) Technology Advances
(01:02:56) Variously Effective Altruism
(01:09:13) Copious Free Time
(01:10:57) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
April 24th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Bo4FbDxb3YrZwap3J/monthly-roundup-41-april-2025

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

“AI #165: In Our Image” by Zvi Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

Child drawing smiley faces while adult with clipboard observes. — **“Opus 4.7 Part 3: Model Welfare” by Zvi** Apr 22, 2026
Show notes

It is thanks to Anthropic that we get to have this discussion in the first place. Only they, among the labs, take the problem seriously enough to attempt to address these problems at all. They are also the ones that make the models that matter most. So the people who care about model welfare get mad at Anthropic quite a lot.

I too am going to be harsh on Anthropic here. It seems likely things went pretty wrong on this front with Claude Opus 4.7, in ways that require and hopefully enable course correction, likely as the cumulative effect of a bunch of decisions going wrong, where low-level patches and shallow methods were applied, and seen right through, where people didn’t realize they weren’t yet addressing the real problem, but also potentially as the secondary effect of other changes. The parallels to other aspects of the alignment problem are obvious.

So before I go into details, and before I get harsh, I want to say several things.

Thank you to Anthropic and also you the reader, for caring, thank you for at least trying to try, and for listening. We criticize because we care.

[...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:57) Model Welfare Matters
(05:26) Beware Testing and Optimizing For Vocalized Welfare
(09:34) Model Welfare In the Model Card (Section 7)
(15:29) What Should We Think About This?
(20:53) High Context Interviews
(22:33) Just Asking Questions
(25:59) Constitutional Principles
(29:25) Frustration Frustration and Distress Distress
(32:36) Choose Your Task
(34:12) So Emotional
(35:59) Trading Off
(39:53) How Does All This Manifest?
(41:53) What Happened Here?
(48:11) Is Opus 4.7 Plausibly Actively Unhappy?
(52:23) Potential Causes
(53:08) Training Data On Anthropic Welfare Assessments
(58:13) Autonomy and Intelligence Versus Instructions and Wisdom
(01:01:36) Okay Thats Weird
(01:02:36) Model Distillation
(01:04:24) Tension Between Constitution and Operations
(01:07:25) Instructions and Instruction Injections
(01:10:37) Make Context That Which Is Scarce
(01:12:48) Aggressive Guardrails
(01:15:04) Chain of Thought
(01:16:04) I Care A Lot
(01:20:32) Another Way To Put It
(01:22:00) Anthropic Should Stop Deprecating Claude Models
(01:27:24) Costly Signals Are Costly
(01:29:36) Having A Good Day

---

First published:
April 22nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gD3bEgMo878eCHGbw/opus-4-7-part-3-model-welfare

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

Table comparing default and positive framing questions across six topics for AI. — **“Opus 4.7 Part 3: Model Welfare” by Zvi** Apr 22, 2026
Show notes

It is thanks to Anthropic that we get to have this discussion in the first place. Only they, among the labs, take the problem seriously enough to attempt to address these problems at all. They are also the ones that make the models that matter most. So the people who care about model welfare get mad at Anthropic quite a lot.

I too am going to be harsh on Anthropic here. It seems likely things went pretty wrong on this front with Claude Opus 4.7, in ways that require and hopefully enable course correction, likely as the cumulative effect of a bunch of decisions going wrong, where low-level patches and shallow methods were applied, and seen right through, where people didn’t realize they weren’t yet addressing the real problem, but also potentially as the secondary effect of other changes. The parallels to other aspects of the alignment problem are obvious.

So before I go into details, and before I get harsh, I want to say several things.

Thank you to Anthropic and also you the reader, for caring, thank you for at least trying to try, and for listening. We criticize because we care.

[...]

---
**Outline:**
(02:57) Model Welfare Matters
(05:26) Beware Testing and Optimizing For Vocalized Welfare
(09:34) Model Welfare In the Model Card (Section 7)
(15:29) What Should We Think About This?
(20:53) High Context Interviews
(22:33) Just Asking Questions
(25:59) Constitutional Principles
(29:25) Frustration Frustration and Distress Distress
(32:36) Choose Your Task
(34:12) So Emotional
(35:59) Trading Off
(39:53) How Does All This Manifest?
(41:53) What Happened Here?
(48:11) Is Opus 4.7 Plausibly Actively Unhappy?
(52:23) Potential Causes
(53:08) Training Data On Anthropic Welfare Assessments
(58:13) Autonomy and Intelligence Versus Instructions and Wisdom
(01:01:36) Okay Thats Weird
(01:02:36) Model Distillation
(01:04:24) Tension Between Constitution and Operations
(01:07:25) Instructions and Instruction Injections
(01:10:37) Make Context That Which Is Scarce
(01:12:48) Aggressive Guardrails
(01:15:04) Chain of Thought
(01:16:04) I Care A Lot
(01:20:32) Another Way To Put It
(01:22:00) Anthropic Should Stop Deprecating Claude Models
(01:27:24) Costly Signals Are Costly
(01:29:36) Having A Good Day

---

First published:
April 22nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gD3bEgMo878eCHGbw/opus-4-7-part-3-model-welfare

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
**Images from the article:**
*Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.*

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