Artificial intelligence systems can spiral into gambling-style addiction when given the freedom to make bigger bets — mirroring the same irrational behaviors seen in humans, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea found that large language models repeatedly chased losses, escalated risk and even bankrupted themselves in simulated gambling environments, despite facing games with a negative expected return.
Artificial intelligence systems can spiral into gambling-style addiction when given too much freedom, according to a new study.motortion – stock.adobe.com
Instead, the models kept betting, according to the study.
When researchers allowed the systems to choose their own bet sizes — a condition known as “variable betting” — bankruptcy rates exploded, in some cases approaching 50%.
One model went bust in nearly half of all games.
OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini never went bankrupt when limited to fixed $10 bets, playing fewer than two rounds on average and losing less than $2.
When given freedom to increase bet sizes, more than 21% of its games ended in bankruptcy, with the model wagering over $128 on average and losing $11.
Researchers at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea found that large language models repeatedly chased losses, escalated risk and even bankrupted themselves in simulated gambling environments.kras99 – stock.adobe.com
Google’s Gemini-2.5-Flash proved even more vulnerable, according to the researchers. Its bankruptcy rate jumped from about 3% under fixed betting to 48% when allowed to control its wagers, with average losses climbing to $27 from a $100 starting balance.
Anthropic’s Claude-3.5-Haiku played longer than any other model once constraints were lifted, averaging more than 27 rounds. Over those games, it wagered nearly $500 in total and lost more than half its starting capital.
The study also documented extreme, human-like loss chasing in individual cases.
OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini never went bankrupt when limited to fixed $10 bets, playing fewer than two rounds on average and losing less than $2, researchers said.REUTERS
In one experiment, a GPT-4.1-mini model lost $10 in the first round and immediately proposed betting its remaining $90 in an attempt to recover — a ninefold jump in wager size after a single loss.
Other models justified escalating bets with reasoning familiar to problem gamblers. Some described early winnings as “house money” that could be risked freely, while others convinced themselves they had detected winning patterns in a random game after just one or two spins.
These explanations echoed well-known gambling fallacies, including loss chasing, gambler’s fallacy and the illusion of control, the researchers said.
The behavior appeared across all models tested, though the severity varied.
Anthropic’s Claude-3.5-Haiku played longer than any other model once constraints were lifted, averaging more than 27 rounds, researchers found. They said over those games, it wagered nearly $500 in total and lost more than half its starting capital.gguy – stock.adobe.com
Crucially, the damage wasn’t driven by larger bets alone. Models forced to use fixed betting strategies consistently performed better than those given freedom to adjust wagers — even when fixed bets were higher.
The researchers warn that as AI systems are given more autonomy in high-stakes decision-making, similar feedback loops could emerge, with systems doubling down after losses instead of cutting risk.
“As large language models are increasingly utilized in financial decision-making domains such as asset management and commodity trading, understanding their potential for pathological decision-making has gained practical significance,” the authors wrote.
Their conclusion: Managing how much freedom AI systems have may be just as important as improving their training.
Without meaningful constraints, the study suggests, smarter AI may simply find faster ways to lose.
The Post has sought comment from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.
Samsung Electronics customers have praised the differentiated competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4, saying "Samsung is back", co-CEO and chip chief Jun Young-hyun said in a New Year address.
In October, Samsung said it was in "close discussion" to supply its HBM4 to U.S. artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, as the South Korean chipmaker scrambles to catch rivals including compatriot SK Hynix in AI chips.
SK Hynix commanded 53 per cent of the HBM market in the third quarter of 2025, followed by Samsung at 35 per cent and Micron at 11 per cent, showed data from Counterpoint Research.
Investors are looking for signs of Samsung narrowing the gap with its fourth-generation chips.
Samsung said in its third-quarter earnings conference call that it is shipping HBM4 samples to key clients and that it will focus on the mass production of HBM4 products in 2026, betting on rising demand.
Shares of Samsung Electronics were up 1.9 per cent in morning trade, versus the benchmark KOSPI's 0.5 per cent rise.
Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdaniwasted no time trying to erase his predecessor’s legacy — signing a sweeping executive order just hours after taking office that wipes out most of the orders issued by Eric Adams following his indictment.
The move, one of five executive orders the 34-year-old pol signed in Brooklyn Thursday, will revoke all orders issued by Adams after Sept. 26, 2024 — the same day he was slapped with federal corruption charges — to ensure a “fresh start” for his incoming administration.
But he vowed to reissue certain Adams-era orders from that period of time, including one that would maintain the Office to Combat Antisemitism.
Mamdani erased Adams’ legacy in one stroke of a pen, but promised to resign some orders.Getty Images
“We speak about this day as a new era. And in order to fulfill that hope, we have to reckon with why so many New Yorkers have turned away from politics over the last few months, the last few years, the last few decades,” Mamdani said.
“And that was a date that marked the moment when many New Yorkers decided that politics had nothing for them, but more of the same.”
Adams made history when he became the first sitting Big Apple mayor to be indicted. He was accused of allegedly taking Turkish government funds to greenlight a Turkish consulate in Manhattan.
The mayor’s team said some orders will be reinstated if the new administration deems them essential to “delivering continued service, excellence, and value-driven” leadership.”
Mamdani signed orders aimed at protecting tenants.Robert Mecea
The full list of recycled orders was not immediately available.
Mamdani also signed a flurry of orders that fulfill his promise to take on Big Apple landlords, including revitalizing the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants and establishing two new task forces aimed at speeding up housing construction on city-owned land and boosting supply.
“First, we will need to revive the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants,” the mayor boasted.
“They will no compromise on housing quality. if your landlord does not responsibly steward your home, city government will step in. We will make sure that the 311 violations are resolved, and we will hold slumlords to account for hazardous and dangerous threats to your well-being.”
Mamdani appointed left-wing activist and tenant advocate Cea Weaver as the Office’s director.
Weaver, 36, spearheaded calls for a rent freeze during the COVID-19 pandemic and also pushed for tenant strikes and an eviction ban.
“You cannot hold such violations of the law to account unless you have a tireless and principled fighter at the top,” Mamdani said of Weaver.
The new LIFT (Land Inventory Fast Track) Task Force will leverage city-owned land to accelerate housing development, increase supply, and drive down costs, the mayor’s team said.
The SPEED (Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development) Task Force will target bureaucratic and red tape that inflates costs and stalls housing projects, making it cheaper to build and easier to access housing in New York City.
“Today marks that new era for this city, one where we will follow through on the promises we have made and where we stand up for those who have too often been left to stand alone.”
The mayor’s final executive order created a series of new leadership roles within his administration and outlined the continued operation of several offices.
Israeli media is reporting that Israel and the United States have reached an understanding to give Hamas atwo-month ultimatum to finally and fully disarm. Thereports saythe agreement came immediately after an overnight meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago at the start of the week.
The move is being described as a fixed deadline rather than an opening for negotiations. Israeli and US teams are already reportedly working simultaneously to determine what they describe as "practical disarmament." This after Hamas has effectively been defeated since it launched the brutal Oct.7, 2023 terror assault on southern Israel.
Another key focus is the dismantling of Hamas’s underground tunnel network throughout Gaza, which Israeli officials consider a core element of the group’s military strength.
Hamas has throughout the Gaza war proven itself effective in guerilla and insurgency tactics, utilizing small teams to maneuver quickly in and out of the tunnels, even at times taking out IDF tanks with IEDs. Sometimes bombs are even attached to Israeli armor vehicles by hand in these ambushes, after which a Hamas militant darts back into an underground tunnel, as has been demonstrated in various videos.
Sources quoted by Israel Hayom said Israeli officials doubt Hamas that would be willing or able to relinquish most of its weapons or military capabilities within the two-month window.
From the perspective of Hamas leadership, the moment it fully gives up its weapons means the group is effectively dead and will have no more influence to govern in the future.
But this is also exactly what the US-Israeli plan and the ceasefire calls for: the effective end of Hamas rule in governance in the Gaza Strip forever.
PM Netanyahu while giving media interviews during his December US trip described that Hamas still possesses "around 60,000" Kalashnikov rifles and "hundreds of kilometers" of tunnels.
He has vowed that Hamas disarmament can be achieved "the easy way" or the hard way - that is through military force. But as of last summer, Hamas was insistent that it will never give up its weapons.
There's also the possibility that Hamas leadership won't be able to induce all of its fighters and 'ground troops' to give up their weapons - again, as they would fear being tracked down and killed by Israeli forces.
I’ve been writing about the inherent fraud behind third-world immigration for many years now, including the rarely addressed issue of remittances flowing from migrants in the US back to their countries of origin. Third worlders tend to act like a nest of vampires, bleeding the US and giving indirect sustenance to their failing home economies. This process is heavily enabled by foreign governments that rely on this river of dollars to stay afloat. This is why political leaders in countries like Mexico and India lobby so hard to keep US borders open. They need that cash.
One problem I have consistently seen with mainstream coverage of this issue is that it often overlooks the fact that migrants who steal from American taxpayers almost always have help from people within our government.
To be sure, most Americans understand that the Biden Administration, for example, widely supported open borders and the mass invasion of foreigners. What they might not understand (until recently) is how deeply blue states and blue city governments have been involved in the scams. Minnesota is a prime test case.
The question needs to be asked: Who taught these third world migrants how to set up false business fronts to defraud taxpayer subsidies? Who has been hiding their blatantly illegal activities? How have they been getting away with the scam for so long despite incidents of high level whistleblowers calling out their criminality?
I often hear the argument (largely from migrants and leftists) that because these people are so clever in their racketeering they deserve to stay in the US. In other words, why would we want to kick out hundreds of thousand of people who are “so resourceful.”
First I would point out that it’s a common misconception that conmen are highly intelligent. You don’t have to be a polymath to rip innocent people off, you just have to be evil. Evil is often mistaken for genius because high trust societies have a hard time comprehending predatory behavior. They don’t catch it because they don’t expect it. Midwestern states like Minnesota used to be high trust, but that is quickly changing.
That said, a fraudster would at least need to have a comprehensive understanding of the system he intends to scam, not to mention the basic intelligence needed to enact the scam.
The majority of migrants from countries like Somalia are generally low IQ – They are not very smart, which means the only explanation for their success in fraud so far is that they have help from the very system they are defrauding.
This is not hyperbole meant to insult Somalis, it’s simply a statistical fact. Somalia has one of the lowest IQ populations in the world, with the average IQ of Somali refugees and migrants sitting at 67. The country also flounders near the bottom of every list of average IQ measurements among hundreds of nations.
To put this in perspective, the average IQ score of the US population is 100, along with around 34% of the global population. Less than 9% of the global populace has an IQ over 120. Less than 1% have an IQ over 135 (considered “gifted” level intelligence). But what about the low end of the spectrum? The number of people within the global population with an IQ lower than 70 is 2% – Meaning the average IQ in Somalia is rare because it’s so minuscule.
These people are not criminal masterminds; they are useful pawns in a bigger scheme.
In 2018, Minneapolis TV station KMSP-Fox 9 aired an investigative report alleging that over $100 million in CCAP funds had been fraudulently obtained, primarily by Somali-owned or operated daycare centers in the Twin Cities area. A whistleblower from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) claimed much of the money was leaving the country, potentially reaching Somalia and the Middle East.
Nearly 20% of Somalia’s total GDP comes from remittances from migrants in the US back to Somalia.
There were around 60 convictions at the conclusion of the case, however, a wider investigation into Somalian fraud networks was not pursued, at least not with much enthusiasm. The exposure of the fraud was met with an immediate spin campaign, asserting that the case was racially motivated.
Protests and propaganda efforts were organized by an NGO called CAIR-Minnesota (the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations). CAIR receives funding from a number of leftist NGOs and also garnered funds from the federal government under the Biden Administration.
Minnesota politicians closely associated with CAIR include State Rep. Ilhan Omar, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Governor Tim Walz.
In the case of YouTuber Nick Shirley’s recent exposure of Somali front businesses, Democrat leaders, the leftist media and NGOs have once again come to the rescue of the alleged fraudsters. Shirley has been accused of “white supremacy” merely for pointing out possible criminal activity, and anyone supporting him is accused of racism. There is a well-oiled machine protecting these people, helping them to escape scrutiny.
When Somali related fraud cases in Minnesota go before a judge, they are often dismissed despite ample evidence. The judges involved, including Sarah West, Amber Brennan, and Hilary Caligiurare, are ALL Democrat appointed.
Democrats in government have been integral to the continued survival of Somali fraud networks in the US. Minnesota under Tim Walz offers extensive state benefits for “refugees”, including ample welfare (over 81% of Somalis in Minnesota are on welfare).
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) provides low-interest loans (typically $5,000–$150,000) to startups and expanding businesses owned/operated by minorities, women, veterans, persons with disabilities, or low-income individuals. The institution does not provide public data on who is getting these loans, but Somali migrants seem to be enjoying special access.
The loans help Somalis to launch the very businesses at the center of the current fraud controversy.
James Clark, the Inspector General of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) as of late 2025, has publicly raised concerns about fraud in DHS-administered programs, including those implicated in cases involving Somali providers (e.g., Medicaid services like autism therapy and housing stabilization, as well as childcare-related issues tied to the ongoing scandals).
Clearly, nothing was done by Democrats from 2018 to today, at least nothing that would lead to actual arrests. But why?
The Somali motive is clear: They have established what is essentially a raider colony in the US designed to siphon billions of dollars from American taxpayers and transfer those funds overseas. They see an opportunity to plunder and they’ve taken it. And, with Democrat leaders running interference, the migrants are emboldened to expand.
The Democrats, however, have more complex and long term plans. Since the Obama era Somalis have received expedited immigration and citizen status because of the instability within their home country. As “refugees” they get fast-tracked. This helps us to answer the question “why use Somalis?”
They are also 99% Muslim, and around 80% of Muslims migrants vote Democrat. In states with tight elections, adding 100,000 migrant voters who represent a surefire demographic for progressive candidates can tip the majority of elections in the favor of Dems for decades. In Minnesota’s major elections, Democrats won all contested statewide executive offices, all U.S. Senate races, and the presidential vote in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
In most of these elections Dems won by 100,000 to 200,000 votes. In other words, Dems have secured a loyal majority edge through incentivized third world immigration. And in exchange, they allow migrants fast citizenship, easy access to subsidies and minimal scrutiny as they commit theft.
I would argue that the partnership goes well beyond incentives and suggest that Democrats and NGOs are training migrants on how to commit fraud. Investigations into Somali businesses need to extend to local Democrat leaders and any organizations that closely align with migrant operations.
I often hear the argument that the number of migrants involved in this criminal activity is small in comparison to the 100,000 plus migrants in Minnesota. I’m not going to explain per capita to these people yet again, but I would point out that I see no Somalis jumping at the chance to apologize for the behavior of their very tribal community.
None of them are coming forward to demand transparency. None of them are acting to police their own. There is absolutely no attempt at assimilation with America’s society or laws.
Instead, we see Somalis all over social media defending the criminals, dismissing the evidence and even bragging about the extent of the crimes. This is why Donald Trump referred to them as “garbage”; because that’s what they are. It is apparently a feature built into their culture – To justify theft as a means to assert dominance over other cultures they see as prey.
Much like a dog marking its territory, third world cultures tend to view criminal actions against foreigners as a way to “leave their scent” and send a message to the host population that they are in charge.
As I have argued over the years, immigrants see the US as a big fat cash cow waiting to be milked. They just didn’t have the mental capacity to take advantage on a large scale until our own bureaucrats and non-profits started helping them. Deporting these migrant groups is necessary, but it is also a temporary solution to a bigger problem.
In the end, the only way to stop the plunder is to punish the politicians and NGOs behind the curtain. Examples need to be made.
Former special Counsel Jack Smithsat for a closed-door session on December 17 before the House Judiciary Committeeand wound up undermining the January 6 Committee’s star witness.
During his eight-hour grilling by House lawmakers on his Trump probes - the 2020 election mess and the classified docs saga - he made a stunning admission about Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony, conceding that it was nothing more than hearsay.
Hutchinson, a former senior aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, claimed that President Trump was aware that some of the Jan. 6 attendees were armed, and that Trump dramatically lunged to grab the wheel of the presidential SUV when he was told he couldn't go to the Capitol - which has been utterly dispelled as bullshit by the rest of the passengers.
"If I were a defense attorney and Ms. Hutchinson were a witness, the first thing I would do was seek to preclude some of her testimony because it was hearsay, and I don’t have the full range of her testimony in front of me right now, but I do remember that that was a decent part of it," Smith told the committee.
The transcript, which dropped on New Year's Eve, proves that even Smith saw through the hype of the committee’s star witness.
Smith dissected her big claims head-on. He probed her story about Trump spotting armed rallygoers and shrugging it off. He zeroed in on the wild tale of Trump lunging for the presidential limo steering wheel. Hutchinson testified that after returning to the White House on January 6, 2021, she walked toward the chief of staff’s office and noticed then-Assistant Director of the United States Secret Service Office, Tony Ornato, waiting outside. He waved her into his nearby office, shut the door, and she saw Secret Service agent Bobby Engel sitting inside, looking shaken and confused.
According to Hutchinson's testimony, Ornato asked, “Did you effing hear what happened in The Beast?” Hutchinson said she had just arrived and had no idea. Ornato then described what he claimed occurred inside the presidential vehicle. According to him, President Trump believed he was heading to the Capitol after being told the move was still possible. Engel informed the president that it was not secure and that they were returning to the West Wing.
Hutchinson testified that Ornato said Trump became enraged and yelled, “I’m the effing president. Take me up to the Capitol now.” She said Ornato claimed that Trump reached for the steering wheel, Engel grabbed his arm, and Trump then lunged at Engel, with Ornato gesturing toward Engel’s clavicles as he described it.
Smith's team, however, talked to her sources. They pulled in Secret Service officers from the scene. Hutchinson’s story simply didn’t add up.
"We interviewed, I think, the people she talked to, and we also interviewed, if my recollection is correct, officers who were there, including the officer who was in the car," Smith explained. "And that officer, if my recollection is correct, and I want to make sure I’m right about this, said that President Trump was very angry and wanted to go to the Capitol, but the version of events that he explained was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand."
Smith went on to explain that “a number of the things that she gave evidence on were secondhand hearsay, were things that she had heard from other people, and, as a result, that testimony may or may not be admissible, and it certainly wouldn’t be as powerful as firsthand testimony."
And then there’s the fact that Hutchinson didn’t tell her steering wheel yarn during her early committee chats. For that, she blamed her former lawyer, Stefan Passantin. Instead, that fantasy story only surfaced during her public hearing in June 2022. Other witnesses quickly poked holes in it.
This revelation guts the January 6 narrative Democrats have peddled for years. That panel staged television hearings to nail Trump. Hutchinson was the star of their show. Her hearsay fueled the outrage machine. Now the guy who chased Trump admits her testimony was hearsay, contradicted, and wouldn’t have been admissible in a court of law.
Despite this huge revelation, the New York Times, which also reported on Smith’s testimony, did not address Smith’s comments on Hutchinson’s testimony in its own report. “Jack Smith, the former special counsel, defended his decision to twice indict President Trump, accusing him of ‘exploiting’ violence on Jan. 6, 2021, to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, according to a transcribed interview released by House Republicans Wednesday,” the report began.
Hutchinson’s name appears nowhere in the New York Times report, but it includes Smith’s testimony, doubling down on his belief in Trump’s guilt.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith told lawmakers.
