Yeah obviously that's the absolving theory - that's how a control works. Basic stuff. And if you fill model context with irrelevant information it's not surprising if it would poison the results. It could certainly be an alignment thing, or something malicious. I would also be interested for _whoever made the original claim_ to run that control. Because that's how science works. Because burden of proof is on who makes the claim. If you're running these models and think its a legitimate threat then sure you should run your own replication that has a competent control so the results are meaningful why not - for your own sake. Otherwise burden of proof is on whoever makes the claim. It that's you and it's trivial to conduct - go for it and let us know what you find!