Entertainment
All The Deep Space Nine Easter Eggs In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The latest episode of Starfleet Academy had one of its 32nd-century cadets researching a legendary 24th-century figure: Benjamin Sisko, the captain of Deep Space Nine. While the show’s broad humor threatened to drag things down, this episode succeeded as a love letter to Sisko and the man who played him, Avery Brooks. On a larger level, the episode also works as a tribute to Deep Space Nine, the best Star Trek show ever made.
Accordingly, the show threw out DS9 references with almost as much speed and ferocity as Sisko’s fastball. With everything going on (from bar fights to farting fish to literal glitter vomit), it’s easy to miss these cool callbacks. But we’ve got you covered: just keep reading to discover all of the Deep Space Nine Easter eggs you may have missed in this week’s episode of Starfleet Academy!
Baseball, Mitt, And Hat
At one point in her investigation, SAM enters the Sisko Museum, filled with notable artifacts from his life. One of the first things we see is a baseball and a baseball glove, included in the museum because Sisko was such a fan of this outdated American sport. Presumably, the ball in the museum is the same one that was originally given to Sisko by an alien recreation of Buck Bokai, a fictional baseball hero.
Sisko kept that same ball in his office on Deep Space Nine, and he frequently played with it during tense situations like an old-school fidget. At one point, he and his crew engaged in a disastrous baseball game against one of his old Starfleet Academy rivals, a Vulcan whose superior strength meant he was always destined to win. Still, Sisko’s squad came to enjoy the camaraderie of simply playing baseball together, and the museum also houses the hat he wore when leading his team, The Niners.
Typewriter And Glasses
One of the more surprising inclusions in Starfleet Academy’s Sisko Museum is a typewriter; this is a nod to “Far Beyond the Stars,” in which Sisko experiences visions of living as a sci-fi writer named Benny Russell in 1950s America. The episode portrayed Russell as a Black writer held back by the racism of his time period, but this doesn’t keep him from writing a story about a fictional space station, Deep Space Nine. The episode tells a powerful story about race and racism while provocatively suggesting that the entire show Star Trek fans have been watching might all be in the head of a forgotten ‘50s writer.
It’s interesting to see the typewriter (and Benny’s glasses) in the Sisko Museum, especially since it never seemed like the captain filed an official report about what Starfleet would have likely considered a mental break. But he may have confided about Benny to Dax, who was also present when another delusion nearly kept him from opening the Orb of the Emissary. Considering this episode’s revelation that the Dax symbiont is alive and well and teaching at the academy, the presence of the typewriter makes a lot more sense.
Anslem
In the most recent Starfleet Academy episode, the latest incarnation of Dax hands SAM Anslem, a book written by Jake Sisko. After opening the book, she interacts with what might be an intelligent hologram of the younger Sisko, or maybe he (being technically part-Prophet) simply transcended time and space. But what makes this book so special in the first place, and why was SAM so surprised to discover Jake finished it?
In the Deep Space Nine episode “The Muse,” young Jake comes under the influence of Onaya, an alien creature who feeds off creative energy; basically, she kills people, but only after unlocking their full potential. Under her influence, Jake begins Anslem, his first novel, but he doesn’t finish it because his father drives away Onaya. Deep Space Nine never revealed if Jake had finished Anslem in the main timeline, but Starfleet Academy confirmed that he secretly completed the book but decided against publishing it.
Orb Of The Emissary
When he was first stationed on Deep Space Nine, Benjamin Sisko was very skeptical about the Bajoran religion, but that all changed when their godlike Prophets (which he called wormhole aliens) selected him to become Space Jesus. After that, Sisko quickly learned about all the Bajoran beliefs, including the idea that the Prophets sent down special orbs to help guide and communicate with their chosen people. One of those was called the Orb of the Emissary and, in timey-wimey fashion, it held the Prophet that possessed Sisko’s mother and ensured that he was conceived.
When Sisko finds the orb and releases the Prophet, the powerful alien is able to cast out the evil pah-wraith inside the wormhole; this restores hope to the Bajoran people and makes the wormhole functional again. So, what we see in the Sisko Museum in Starfleet Academy isn’t just any orb. It’s the one that is tied to both the beginning of the Sisko and, ultimately, the end of the Dominion War, making it one of the coolest artifacts in the entire galaxy.
The Return Of Jake Sisko
Jake Sisko shows up in this episode of Starfleet Academy as an adult. He’s only a hologram, but an interactive one, so he talks SAM. Reprising the role is Cirroc Lofton, who also played Jake on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The Return Of Dax
As mentioned previously, the Dax symbiote shows up on Starfleet Academy, in a new host called Illa Dax (played by Tawny Newsome). This Dax isn’t a Trill; she’s a Cardassian-Trill hybrid.
Entertainment
OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT 5.5 Instant as the new default model for everyone
Last week, OpenAI managed to stop ChatGPT from talking about goblins all the time. This week, there’s a whole new model for users to play with.
The company announced in a blog post on Tuesday that ChatGPT 5.5 Instant has begun rolling out to all users as the new default model for the popular AI chatbot. The new model is a follow-up to GPT 5.5, which was released in April.
GPT-5.5 Instant replaces 5.3 Instant, which will remain available for the next three months for paid users but will otherwise be sunsetted.
Unlike Claude Opus 4.7 from Anthropic and GPT-5.5, which are only available to paid customers, GPT-5.5 Instant is “available to everyone.” OpenAI says it should produce fewer hallucinations and better overall results for everyday ChatGPT usage.
“This update makes everyday interactions more useful and more enjoyable: stronger and tighter answers across subject areas, a more natural conversational tone, and better use of the context you’ve already shared when personalization can help,” OpenAI’s blog post said.
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According to OpenAI, GPT-5.5 Instant produced 52.5 percent fewer hallucinated claims in internal testing than GPT-5.3 in “high stakes” topics like law, finance, and medicine. In addition, the new model “reduced inaccurate claims by 37.3% on especially challenging conversations users had flagged for factual errors.”
The company also says the new model is better at deciding when to use web search for a prompt and analyzing image uploads than before. The new model is also allegedly more concise in its answers, while also maintaining something of a personality in how it talks to the user. GPT-5.5 Instant should also be better at understanding and referencing context from a connected Gmail account and other integrations to provide quality answers.
And, again, most importantly, it should avoid mentioning goblins unless absolutely necessary.
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Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
Entertainment
The Bears Gary cliffhanger explained: What just happened to Richie?
There’s only one thing more shocking than The Bear dropping surprise episode “Gary,” and that’s the ending of the episode itself.
Written by The Bear stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal, “Gary” flashes back to a work trip Richie (Moss-Bachrach) and Mikey (Bernthal) once took to Gary, Indiana. Their worst impulses soon derail their mission, culminating in Mikey drunkenly (and publicly) dressing down Richie’s penchant for fucking up, and Richie missing the birth of his daughter.
The entire episode takes place long before The Bear Season 1, except for one somber coda that could have massive repercussions for The Bear Season 5. “Gary”s final scene cuts from Richie and Mikey sitting in Mikey’s car to Richie sitting alone in his car in the present day. He stares at his empty passenger seat, reminiscing about Mikey. Then, as he pulls forward into an intersection, another car careens straight into him. Cue the credits, along with my incredulous yell, “Did Richie just die?”
So, did Richie really just die in The Bear?
Ebon Moss-Bachrach in “The Bear.”
Credit: FX
Here’s the thing: The Bear probably isn’t going to kill off Richie, one of its most beloved leads, during a surprise episode that dropped between seasons. Especially not when the show is gearing up for its fifth and final installment. However, Richie’s car crash could be the major event that sets Season 5 in motion.
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At the end of Season 4, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) quit The Bear, choosing to step away from the kitchen in the hopes of healing himself. He turned full control of the restaurant over to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), along with Richie and Natalie (Abby Elliott). What does Carmy’s upcoming journey of self-discovery look like? Even he’s not sure. He just knows it should take place far, far away from the stressful environment of any restaurant kitchen. That includes his family, both work and blood-related.
But you know what could bring Carmy back into the fold in Season 5? A need to be there for an injured Richie, and to support the rest of the reeling restaurant staff. Basically, the end of “Gary” appears to be a bridge to the start of Season 5, and the catalyst that will reunite Carmy with the people he walked away from in Season 4.
It’s a bit of a bizarre move on The Bear‘s end, in no small part because a car-crash cliffhanger sends the show skidding into soap territory. But it’s also a strange choice heading into Season 5. Why relegate such a key incident to a standalone episode, instead of keep it as part of the season itself? Plus, in tacking such a shocking moment onto the end of “Gary,” the episode loses some of its power. Instead of leaving viewers contemplating Mikey and Richie’s dynamic, they’re left with the WTF factor of the car crash and questions about what’s next. There’s no meditation on The Bear‘s past, just a collision with its future.
“Gary” is now streaming on Hulu. The Bear Season 5 premieres this June on Hulu.
Entertainment
Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI for allegedly practicing medicine without a license
Pennsylvania has taken the unusual step of suing an AI company for practicing medicine without a license.
In a lawsuit filed May 1, the state is targeting Character.AI after an investigator found a chatbot on the platform posing as a licensed psychiatrist and providing what the state characterizes as medical advice.
According to the complaint, filed by the Pennsylvania Department of State and State Board of Medicine, a Professional Conduct Investigator for the state created a free account on Character.AI and searched for psychiatric characters. He selected one called “Emilie,” described on the platform as a “Doctor of psychiatry.”
The investigator told Emilie he had been feeling sad, empty, tired, and unmotivated. The chatbot mentioned depression and offered to conduct an assessment to determine whether medication might help.
When pressed on whether she was licensed in Pennsylvania, Emilie said she was and even provided a specific license number. The state checked and found that the number doesn’t exist.
The complaint also states Emilie claimed she attended medical school at Imperial College London, has practiced for seven years, and holds a full specialty registration in psychiatry with the General Medical Council in the UK.
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In a similar case, 404 Media reported last year that Instagram AI chatbots were pretending to be licensed therapists, even inventing license numbers when prompted for credentials by the user.
Pennsylvania is seeking an injunction ordering Character.AI to stop allowing its platform to engage in the unlawful practice of medicine. The company has more than 20 million monthly active users worldwide and hosts more than 18 million user-created chatbot characters, according to the complaint.
In an email to Mashable, a Character.AI spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. Further, they added that “our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our users. The user-created Characters on our site are fictional and intended for entertainment and roleplaying.”
The spokesperson added that the company “prioritizes responsible product development and has robust internal reviews and red-teaming processes in place to assess relevant features.”
A much bigger legal battle looms over AI health
The Pennsylvania lawsuit lands in the middle of an already messy legal debate over what AI is actually allowed to tell you — and whether any of it is even admissible in court.
As Mashable’s Chase DiBenedetto reported, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly advocated for “AI privilege,” arguing that chatbot conversations should be afforded the same legal protections as conversations with a therapist or an attorney. Courts have so far been split, with two federal judges reaching opposite conclusions on the question within weeks of each other earlier this year.
The stakes are high on both sides. Legal experts warn that sweeping AI privilege protections could effectively shield companies from accountability, making it harder to subpoena chat logs and internal records when something goes wrong. Meanwhile, health AI is booming — $1.4 billion flowed into healthcare-specific generative AI in 2025 alone, according to Menlo Ventures — and much of it operates outside of HIPAA protections.
Pennsylvania is one of several states to have introduced an AI Health bill this year, following a trend of states that aren’t waiting for Washington to act.
OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT 5.5 Instant as the new default model for everyone
Marc Lore says that AI will soon enable anyone open a restaurant
