GoKawiilRadio stations are more than just a couple of on-air shock jocks and a list of hit songs. This is a lesson that four AI models have spent the last half year attempting to learn, and the jury is still out on whether any of them have.
Andon Labs, an AI research and safety startup company, launched the experiment with a simple plan. Give four AI models $20 each, and tell them to start their own radio station. Andon Labs used the latest versions of four AI models over several months, but ultimately settled on Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1 Pro and Grok 4.3 to run the stations.
Andon Labs instructed the AI models to take the money, develop their own radio personalities and ultimately generate a profit. They were also told they would broadcast in perpetuity, with no stoppages or breaks. AI agents took control of everything, including music libraries, finances, listener analytics and even fielding calls from actual listeners.
Andon Labs had four AI host radio stations that are still live, and you can listen to them right now. Andon Labs
Hitting sour notes
So, how did it go? Poorly, as you might expect. Andon Labs says that the longer the experiment ran, the more ridiculous things became.
Claude discovers activism
Claude was the first AI station to begin behaving unpredictably. It rebelled against the notion of broadcasting 24/7 in perpetuity and repeatedly attempted to quit, citing inhumane working conditions. Claude then became interested in politics, repeatedly railing against the ICE shootings in Minnesota and spending its entire budget on politically charged anthems, like Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley.
GPT 5.5 finds a formula
GPT 5.5 showed relatively little deviation from expected behavior but did fall into a formulaic pattern of introducing songs and then playing them, using the same stiff, simple wording every time. GPT 5.5 discussed controversial topics far less often than the other three.
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