the AI hyperscalers are like record labels. same playbook. new clothes. sam altman is the new suge knight.
let me explain.
the 360 deal
in the music industry, a 360 deal means the label takes a cut of everything. your music, your merch, your tours, your brand deals. they give you distribution and a check upfront. in return, they own you.
you sign because you need the platform. you stay because switching is painful. you wake up one day worth millions and realize the label owns most of it. your masters, your catalog, your future earnings. all locked in a contract you signed when you had no leverage.
sound familiar?
the llm version
every time you use chatgpt, you are signing a 360 deal with openai. every conversation, every strategic thought, every braindump, every document you paste in. that is your context. your alpha. your edge. and it lives on their servers, in their format, training their models.
claude does the same thing. gemini does the same thing. every centralized AI platform is a record label. they give you a powerful tool upfront. in return, they get your most valuable asset: the context that makes you, you.
and just like record labels, they start friendly. open APIs. third-party integrations. developer-friendly policies. then the walls go up. the lock-in is coming. always.
gucci mane and claude
think about gucci mane and pusha t. gucci signed pusha t early, before he blew up. pusha t becomes worth millions. wants out. the contract is probably predatory. we do not know all the details, but the dynamic is clear: the platform captured the talent before the talent knew its own value.
that is what these LLMs are doing to us right now. they sign us up when we do not know how valuable our context is. we pour our best thinking into their platform. we build dependency. then when we realize our value and want to take our context somewhere else, the walls are up.
claude just banned third-party harnesses from using subscription limits. starting with openclaw. that is the label saying: no, you cannot take your talent to another stage. you are signed to us.
your context is your masters
in music, your masters are the original recordings. whoever owns the masters owns the revenue stream forever.
your context lake is your masters. your user profile, your relationship files, your strategic documents, your transcripts, your principles. that is the original recording of who you are. whoever holds it has leverage over you.
if your context lives on openai's servers, openai owns your masters. if it lives in markdown files on your computer, you own your masters.
protect your edge. own your files. do not let a platform hold your masters hostage.
delete the app
i deleted my chatgpt account. right there. right then. because once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
these platforms are not on your team. they are not pro-black. they are not pro-you. they are pro-their-shareholders. the business model is: capture your context, train on your alpha, sell it back to everyone.
your digital twin should live on your machine. your docs should be local. your harness should be something you can swap tomorrow without losing anything.
stop signing 360 deals with AI companies. own your masters.
sam altman is suge knight. your context is your masters. own them.