![Do LLMs employ variable rewards, Spike Lee's hat, and a chilling video [Friday Wrap-Up]](https://img.transistorcdn.com/9GQlLIcYJeIWGJvu0v9UHLMV7tgwGnSf4y3GhZkTXxE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:800/h:800/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9iMGY5/ZjM3NzBjYTE1MjAw/MjE5MjI4MzkwNGIx/MzMwMC5wbmc.webp)
Welcome to the Friday Wrap-Up for May 15, 2026. This is a short newsletter where I talk about 3 things: What’s on my mind this week, Recommended Reading, and Recommended Media. Here's what's on my mind...
Earlier this week I found myself fighting Claude on something I felt was a pretty basic problem — one that I had used it to solve before. I kept going back and forth with Claude. I would ask it questions. It would then do things I didn't even remotely ask it to do. I started to form a weird theory in my head that Opus 4.7 is designed to waste tokens. But I'm actually worried it's worse than that.
Recommended Reading: The colorful impact of Spike Lee’s red Yankees hat request 30 years ago: I'm a chronic Yankees hat collector. I suspect my collection pales in comparison to some, but I have over a dozen hats emblazoned with the classic Interlocking NY that has persisted for over 100 years. In other words, I love a dope hat.
Recommended Media: I Tracked Down the Hidden Workers Secretly Powering ChatGPT: And now for something totally different. This video talks about companies that recruit people who train LLMs. The problems it highlights is twofold: the predatory nature of recruiting experts in a way that's dehumanizing, and the chilling mindset behind AI companies who basically want to own knowledge and sell it back to us.
Get the full article and a free automation of the week by signing up for the newsletter: https://streamlined.fm/wrap
- (00:00) - Intro
- (00:31) - What's on my mind: Are LLMs employing variable rewards?
- (05:24) - Recommended reading: Spike Lee's red Yankees hat
- (08:22) - Recommended media: The hidden workers powering ChatGPT
- (12:29) - Outro
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Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed coaches, consultants, and service providers build systems so their business doesn't depend on them.
Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy, with AI doing the tasks, not the thinking — to help you beat overwhelm, get your time back, and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed coaches, consultants, and service providers build systems so their business doesn't depend on them.
Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy, with AI doing the tasks, not the thinking — to help you beat overwhelm, get your time back, and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.
Looking for a place to start? Download the Solopreneur Systems Starter Kit: the 4 systems every solopreneur should have, the simplest way to set them up, plus the exact tools, automations, and AI prompts you need. No guessing. Get it free at https://streamlined.fm/kit.
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