Uncanny Valley | WIRED

Uncanny Valley | WIRED

Welcome to Uncanny Valley—an insider look at the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley—where each week, WIRED’s writers and editors bring you original reporting and analysis about some of the biggest stories in tech. On Tuesdays, The Big Interview with WIRED’s Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond in conversation with influential figures in culture, politics, business, science, and beyond for a discussion captured through the WIRED lens. On Thursdays, WIRED writers and editors Zoë Schiffer, Brian Barrett and Leah Feiger add you to the Slack group thread to let you into what they’re hearing from sources in Silicon Valley and D.C, read you into what trends you should be watching for and how WIRED is thinking about it all.

Episodes

Can AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton CEO Says It Will Have To

August 18, 2026 • 40 mins
Andy Yen is co-founder of Proton, a Geneva-based company that operates a suite of privacy focused products like email, calendars, password managers and more. A former physicist and economist, Yen is a champion of encryption for everyone. So why is he going all in on un-encryptable AI? WIRED senior writer and author Andy Greenberg sat down with Yen to talk about how privacy can survive in a world of pervasive, AI-obsessed surveillan...
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Zuckerberg's AI Manifesto Explained; Inside Black Hat and DEF CON's Best Hacks

August 13, 2026 • 32 mins
This week, the team breaks down Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word AI manifesto and why it ultimately rings hollow. Plus — why job seekers are scheduling bot-run interviews at 1 AM, and WIRED's Andy Greenberg joins to unpack Black Hat and DEF CON's best findings, from a hacked kids' smartwatch to a coin-sized device that can hijack a Boeing 737. Articles mentioned in this episode: The Rise of the 1 am Job Inte...
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Zohran Mamdani, the Internet’s Mayor (Re-air)

August 11, 2026 • 37 mins
Before he burst through the 2025 primaries, Zohran Mamdani was polling at the same level as literally "someone else." Then-candidate Zohran Mamdani sat down with Katie to talk about building a social media juggernaut, Big Tech capitulation, and what he learned from previous New York Mayor Eric Adams. This is a summer re-air! We are on a short vacation but back with fresh episodes very soon. Join WIRED’s best and brightest ...
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How ICE Has Been Collecting DNA; SpaceX’s Rocket Crashes Into the Moon

August 6, 2026 • 33 mins
This week, the team breaks down how ICE has collected DNA from nearly a million people this year, including young children, feeding an FBI database indefinitely. Plus — Google Earth's AI slop backfires, the White House's secretive AI cybersecurity plan, a SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, and WIRED's Molly Taft on the strange left-right coalition fighting data centers across America. Learn more about your ad choices....
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Everyone Is Using AI in Hollywood

August 4, 2026 • 52 mins
When Puck’s Matthew Belloni reported on Amazon MGM Studios decision to dump their Sam Altman biopic mere months after announced an enormous investment into OpenAI to the tune of $50 billion – the news sent a bit of a shockwave through Hollywood as the implications of Silicon Valley's grip on the industry has seemingly entered a new phase. Matt Belloni, host of The Town podcast, joins Katie to discuss the ongoing effects...
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How Claude Chats Got Exposed on Google; Inside Trump's AI Policy Chaos

July 30, 2026 • 30 mins
This week, Nvidia launched a splashy push for an open source AI security alliance alongside companies like Microsoft, SpaceX, and Palantir — notably absent were OpenAI and Anthropic. We break down what the split means for the industry and the Trump administration's own shifting opinions on AI. Plus: how Claude conversations turned up in Google and Bing search results, and the massive feat of how four whales were rescued from ...
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Can the New York Times Save Journalism From Our AI Overlords?

July 28, 2026 • 44 mins
A.G. Sulzberger, who took on the publisher role at The New York Times a decade ago and has been an influential leader in the Times’ much-lauded push into digital innovation, has no shortage of defending to do lately. Nearly three years ago, the Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging that the companies illegally used New York Times journalism to train AI models. That legal case, which isn’t ...
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Did China’s Moonshot AI Steal From Anthropic?; OpenAI Loses Control of Two Models

July 23, 2026 • 35 mins
This week, the White House accused Chinese-owned Moonshot AI of distilling Anthropic's Fable 5 to build their much talked about Kimi K3 model. Zoë, Leah, and Brian break down whether this is a repeat of the DeepSeek moment and what it means for the AI race between the U.S and China. They also get into how the U.S Army — and plenty of Silicon Valley companies — are having to cut back AI usage after burning through their ...
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Stanford Grads Say Big Tech Is Creating a 'Modern-Day Draft’

July 21, 2026 • 41 mins
More than a hundred Stanford students left their own graduation to protest Google’s military contracts and deals with ICE. Two organizers, Amanda Campos and Eva Jones, tell us why. Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian’s newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (...
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Why Apple Sued OpenAI; New York Takes On Data Centers; Cyclosporiasis Outbreak

July 17, 2026 • 38 mins
This week, the team discusses the details behind Apple suing OpenAI over alleged stolen hardware secrets. And the company's headaches don't stop there — a group of OpenAI employees just started a Super PAC to advocate for stronger AI guardrails. Plus, they discuss New York's first-in-the-nation data center moratorium and how the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not telling how they used AI to shape hous...
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We Interviewed a Puppet and It Made A Lot of Sense

July 14, 2026 • 40 mins
Attitudes around social media are changing. A Pew Research study found that about half of teens surveyed in 2024 felt that social media had a mostly negative impact on their age group. A group advocating a more considered relationship to tech held what they called a Summer of Ludd Festival, named after the Industrial Revolution era workers movement, the Luddites. The festival in New York City featured tech-free activities ranging f...
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Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X; Trump Phone Review; Maine's Senate Race Implodes

July 9, 2026 • 18 mins
Threads recently hit 500 million monthly users, putting it on par with X — but is it really competing, or just filling a different niche? Meanwhile, the reviews have been coming in for the Trump-branded T1 phone in recent weeks as it finally started shipping after a year of delays. Plus: Leah explains the fast-moving crisis around Senate candidate Graham Platner, who stepped down this week after a long string of controversies...
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From Mixed Signals: Bluesky COO Rose Wang on building a better social network

July 7, 2026 • 40 mins
Bluesky COO Rose Wang joins our friends at Semafor's Mixed Signals to talk about the platform’s reputation as a politically charged space — and betting on a decentralized approach to social media. Semafor's media editor Max Tani and editor-in-chief Ben Smith ask Wang about the Bluesky’s rapid growth, its evolving identity, and the challenge of turning a utopian vision into a business that will last.  Fo...
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Bernie Sanders Wants You to Own Half the Profits from AI

June 30, 2026 • 38 mins
While many politicians are still getting their bearings around AI, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has taken a leading stance. He’s proposed a sovereign wealth fund, to allow Americans to share in half of the financial profits made by big AI companies. He’s also calling for a moratorium on data center construction, until we’re able to answer some key questions – including how AI can improve our lives. Senator...
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Why Amazon Dropped Its OpenAI Movie; Data Center Workers Are Fighting Back

June 25, 2026 • 35 mins
This week, the team discusses Amazon’s controversial decision to drop Luca Guadagnino’s film about OpenAI’s Sam Altman — which reportedly did not paint him in a favorable light. Alongside Google DeepMind’s $75 million brand new partnership with indie film studio A24, how much of a dent is AI actually having in the films we see? They also discuss the recent upheaval of workers — from electricians ...
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Until Trump Fires Her, Anna Gomez Will Fight for Press Freedom

June 23, 2026 • 40 mins
President Trump probably can’t get rid of her yet, but FCC commissioner Anna Gomez still checks her email every day to see if he has. Until then, she wants to stand up for the First Amendment. Anna Gomez, the only Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote a shocking letter to Disney last month, warning that the company is the target of “a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and co...
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Tim Heidecker Thinks Twitter Should Be a World Heritage Site

June 17, 2026 • 43 mins
The satirical news publication The Onion is trying to take over Infowars, formerly owned by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and planning to put comedian Tim Heidecker in charge. Their vision is to turn Infowars into ‘Adult Swim’ for the internet. Tim joins Katie to talk about political comedy, why late-night has run its course, and what he hopes the future of Infowars will look like.  Join WIRED’s b...
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Why Anthropic Shut Down Its Best AI (Special News Update)

June 15, 2026 • 21 mins
Over the weekend, the Trump administration placed export controls on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — their most advanced AI models — citing national security concerns. This effectively leading the company to shut them down for all users worldwide. In this special episode, Brian and Zoë bring you the very latest in this breaking news and explain what led to this unprecedented moment; what cybersecurity experts ...
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Why You Might Already Own SpaceX Shares; Inside the Knicks' Owner's Surveillance Machine

June 11, 2026 • 43 mins
This week, the team discusses Apple’s Siri AI brand new release, SpaceX officially going public — and who will benefit the most from it. They also get into how Meta removed a facial recognition feature after a WIRED report exposed it, and later in the show — an investigation into how the Knicks’ owner James Dolan created an extensive surveillance system inside all of his Madison Square Garden properties.&nbs...
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Trump Foe Mounts Competitive Senate Bid in Florida

June 9, 2026 • 43 mins
When Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, a key witness in President Trump’s first impeachment trial, announced he was running for one of Florida’s senate seats, he was considered a longshot. But a recent poll by Change Research now shows him slightly leading his competitor, Senator Ashley Moody. But can he prevail in a state Trump won by more than 13 percentage points in 2024? Vindman joins Katie to talk about...
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