This is the first in an Axios series on seizing control of your reality. The series will unfold in AM and Finish Line. Please watch our kickoff video here.

Your reality is formed from what you read, see, listen to and experience. It's no longer mostly shaped by the "news," Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• The people you follow, the videos you watch, the podcasts you hear, the news you read all shape the world you know.

Why it matters: It feels like you control this. You often don't. The algorithms on your favorite platforms are so fine-tuned that they know you, often better than you do. They respond to what you actually do, not what you think or aspire to.

• They give you more of what you want, not necessarily more of what you need.

You need to seize back control of your brain and reality. In the coming weeks, Axios will provide resources for cleaning your social media feed and finding trusted sources of news and information.

Two things are true at once:

1. There's more misinformation, manipulative content and mental garbage available for free than at any point in human history.
2. There's also more high-quality, healthy and mind-enhancing content available for free than at any point in human history.

So you face two stark choices: Expand and fortify your mind, or slowly and systematically turn it into manipulated mush.

Why this matters to you: It's possible, if not likely, that the biggest threat to future happiness and success is landing on the right side of information inequality. Those who allow their minds to be controlled by algorithms and AI will flounder.

• Those who exploit the explosion of high-quality content, while filtering out the dumb stuff, will prosper.

For the first time ever, all of us can use free versions of emerging large language models to sharpen our discovery, our thinking and our writing. We can set up personal and personalized tutorials for free.

• And soon, for the first time ever, those LLMs will be smarter, faster, deeper and more capable than we are. That will dramatically expand your personal abilities, provided you learn to use them smartly.

Each of us can take these four steps:

1. Seize control of your brain: That means admitting the costs of our current habits and consumption patterns. Make the hard decision to change.
2. Clean your feed: Treat your social feeds like food. You wouldn't ingest poison or mystery meats. Stop following people or accounts you can't validate as real and healthy. Start following those who help you learn more or feel better. Better yet, delete your apps.
3. Pick one anchor of broad truth: Find one reputable general news source you believe gets to the closest approximation of the truth on a routine basis. Free sources like Axios or paid ones like The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times are good places to start. (We'll soon offer a much longer list in Finish Line.)
4. Pour in trusted sources: You can easily find smart, useful, trusted guidance on every passion or topic of interest. It doesn't matter if it's cooking, fitness, news or using AI. Think of it this way: Every minute of good content displacing doomscrolling makes you smarter. The opposite is true, too. Don't let yourself get dumber.

The bottom line: If you do these four things, you'll instantly be smarter and more useful than the vast majority of your peers. And you'll more confidently find and navigate reality.

🧠 WATCH: Algorithms are controlling your feed. Here's how to take it back ... Share this column.

AI CEOs are openly trash-talking each other, sniping over advertising and their philosophical approaches to the future, Axios AI+ co-author Madison Mills writes.

• Why it matters: The squabbling is intensifying as the cost of staying competitive in AI soars, along with pressure to deliver real returns.

🖼️ The big picture: AI CEOs can be divided into two groups — the researchers and the entrepreneurs.

• The researchers tend to view AI as a fragile, long-term project that demands collaboration, caution and governance. Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and Anthropic's Dario Amodei fall into this camp.
• The entrepreneurs — including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk — want to move fast and break things.

The fighting ramped up when Anthropic pledged to keep its large language model Claude ad-free and ran a Super Bowl commercial poking at OpenAI, which is testing ads in ChatGPT.

• Altman fired back with a 420-word post calling the ad "dishonest."

Altman also has beef with Musk. Musk is pursuing two lawsuits against Altman.

• Keep reading.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political life, rejecting calls to resign yesterday as fallout from the Epstein files threatened to bring down the British government, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Why it matters: Less than two years after Labour's blowout election victory, Starmer is the most unpopular British prime minister on record, according to The Economist.

But new Morning Consult data shows he isn't even the most unpopular leader in Europe.

• French President Emmanuel Macron has a putrid 16% approval rating, setting the stage for the far-right National Rally to win next year's presidential election.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also deeply unpopular, reflecting Europe's broad backlash against incumbents over inflation, economic stagnation and immigration.

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President Trump threatened to block the opening of a new Canadian-built bridge across the Detroit River yesterday, demanding that Canada turn over at least half of the ownership of the bridge and agree to other unspecified demands.

• Trump accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of pursuing a trade deal with China. In a 296-word Truth Social post, Trump says: "Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades" and that China would "terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada."

The Gordie Howe International Bridge cost $6.4 billion — "entirely funded by Canada's government, but the bridge is under the public joint ownership of Canada and the state of Michigan," the CBC writes.

• Go deeper.

ChatGPT started testing ads for some U.S. users yesterday on its free and cheapest subscription tiers, Axios' Madison Mills writes.

• Why it matters: It could be the beginning of the end of ad-free ChatGPT.

The company says ads won't influence ChatGPT's answers, which will remain focused on what is "most helpful."

• If a user asks about recipe ideas, the answer may be followed by a grocery delivery service ad, for example.

Keep reading.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said yesterday the Justice Department redacted the names of at least six men who are "likely incriminated" by their inclusion in the Jeffrey Epstein files, Axios' Kate Santaliz writes.

• The lawmakers — who viewed unredacted versions of the documents — said they want to allow DOJ time to further unredact files.

They have also floated sharing the names on the House floor, which would provide them with immunity from civil or criminal liability.

• Massie told reporters that one of the men is "pretty high up" in a foreign government and another is a prominent individual.

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The Texas Democratic Senate primary between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico has turned ugly over race and credibility — foreshadowing tensions for Democrats nationwide, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

• Why it matters: The primary's rapid escalation in identity-based attacks reveals unsettled fault lines that Democrats worry could derail them, again.

Back in December, Crockett had to defend comments she made a year earlier to Vanity Fair, when she said the way Latinos talk about immigration reminded her of the "slave mentality."

• Then a TikTok post last week claimed that Talarico, a white man, called former Senate candidate (and former U.S. Rep.) Colin Allred a "mediocre Black man."

🔭 Zoom out: The contest highlights the minefield Democrats face with their diverse coalition.

• Talarico has cultivated a racially diverse following on social media by pairing progressive policies with a faith-centered message.
• Crockett gained national prominence as a House member by becoming one of the Democrats' most viral interrogators in congressional hearings.

Keep reading.

While Bad Bunny was the center of attention for millions tuning into the Super Bowl halftime show, the walking bunches of sugarcane arguably stole the show, Axios San Francisco's Claire Reilly writes from inside the stadium.

• Why it matters: Hundreds of humans in grass suits brought Bad Bunny's set to life in a matter of minutes, uniting with the music icon to create a Puerto Rican village complete with sugarcane fields, farmers, food carts and a buzzing casita.

The 350-plus performers suited up as shrubbery after answering a cryptic job ad calling for field performers who were 5'10" to 6'1", athletic and able to wear costumes "weighing up to 40 pounds."

• WATCH: The view from the stands ... Share this story.