Shows / 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…
Episodes
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow Elon Musk and Big Tech Poured Millions Into the Midterms, and Lost
The midterm results delivered a rebuke not just to the Trump administration, but also to Big Tech. This week, the WIRED’s politics team takes over to break…
Uncanny Valley | WIRED‘Our Risk, Their Reward’: Zohran Mamdani on AI and Data Centers
Ahead of the midterms, WIRED talked with New York City’s mayor about data centers, AI in schools, and the future of the Democratic party. Join WIRED’s best and…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow a Contractor's AI Agent Got Into the Pentagon; Anthropic’s Doomer IPO; ICE at the Polls?
This week, we have a scoop on how a defense contractor connected their Claude Code commercial account to a secure Department of Defense system, exposing…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDUK Politician Jess Asato Got Deepfaked. Now She’s Taking xAI to Court
Jess Asato’s public campaigning for victims of online abuse put her in the crosshairs of Grok’s deepfake scandal. Then the UK Member of Parliament became a…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWill Musk Give Your Kid a SpaceX Share?; Inside the Secret Nathan Fielder Interview
This week, the team speaks with Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond to go behind the scenes of her viral interview with Nathan Fielder about his latest…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDSexual Assault Is a Free Speech Issue
Mary Anne Franks has spent years fighting against online abuse. When people are abused with impunity, she says, the message becomes “We do not care about…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDFrom The Big Story: Nathan Fielder Tells Us Everything
Including what Elizabeth Holmes said to him last week. A WIRED exclusive interview with the comic auteur, as his first feature film hits theaters. The…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDMeta’s Muse Won’t Stop Sexting
Turns out, Meta’s AI agent Muse goes well beyond managing your calendar: it will also sext with you. This week, Brian and Leah are joined by WIRED’s reporter…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDAlex Gibney’s Elon Musk Documentary Has a Unique Perspective on Daddy Issues
When asked, Elon’s father Errol Musk agreed to be interviewed immediately. Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDInside Elon Musk's Midterm Spending Spree; What Is Effective Altruism Exactly?
This week, the team dives into how Elon Musk's America PAC is spending millions on the most consequential Senate races of the 2026 midterms — and how most of…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDKevin Roose Didn’t Use AI to Write His Book About AI
The author of The AGI Chronicles says his book “was written by a very tired, overworked, under-slept human being.” Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDAre AI Agents Worth the Risk? and Trump’s Pinky Swear AI Safety ‘Accord
This week, President Trump issued a new “morally binding” AI accord after a lunch meeting with tech executives, that basically says the AI labs are going to…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDThere Is No ‘Existential Threat’ From AI Says Timnit Gebru
One of AI’s fiercest critics believes the doom talk is about founders making money, not saving humanity. Check out the new WIRED app. Join WIRED’s best and…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDInside the Network of Anonymous Men Destroying Young Women's Lives
Last year, Maddie Kowalski was a regular sophomore attending the University of Florida. That is until one day, a series of anonymous accounts on X started…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDPatti Harrison Grew Up With Tech As Her North Star. Not Anymore
Comedian Patti Harrison hates social media. She wishes she didn't have to use it at all. To her, the internet is a slop factory. One of her biggest concerns…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhat Would the AI Apocalypse Look Like? We Went Looking for Answers
The debate of whether AI can kill us has been everywhere lately, but how exactly would an actual AI catastrophe look like? This week, the team went looking for…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDIf the US Collapses Soon, Don’t Blame Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel, Station Eleven, turned her into something of a pandemic prophet. This month, she’s releasing her newest novel, Exit Party…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDSo, Can AI Kill Us All?; Apple’s Foldable iPhone; the Census’ Bad Data Problem
This week, an AI researcher's resignation from Anthropic went viral on social media after he claimed there's a real chance AI could wipe out humanity by…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDMS NOW Wants to Turn Its Viewers Into a Fandom
When Rebecca Kutler accepted the job as president of cable news channel MS Now, formerly known as MSNBC, she knew what she was getting into. The top 3 cable…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow Flock Cameras Actually Work; George Santos' Kalshi Ban; AI Rogue "Civilizations"
We're back! This week, the team discusses the two incidents that have been making noise in prediction markets: George Santos getting lifetime ban from Kalshi…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDLegalEagle, the Internet’s Favorite Lawyer, Makes Sense of ‘Multiple Watergates per Week’ (Re-air)
Devin Stone, the lawyer better known as LegalEagle on YouTube, has been breaking down legal cases - and assessing the accuracy of legal procedurals in film and…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDAI Agents Are Hacking Systems. Could That Push the US and China to Cooperate?
The AI race has been framed as a zero-sum game: either the U.S or China will win at the end. But as concerns pile up around the increasing capabilities of AI…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDFallout Director Jonathan Nolan Says He's Still a Techno-Optimist (Re-air)
Katie sits down with the Westworld showrunner, Jonah Nolan for a wide ranging conversation about what keeps him coming back to sci-fi storytelling about…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhat Happens if China Hacks the US Water Supply?
Earlier this year, insurance executives gathered in a Times Square conference room to play out a scenario — a Chinese cyberattack that knocks out 5,000 US…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDCan AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton CEO Says It Will Have To
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDZuckerberg's AI Manifesto Explained; Inside Black Hat and DEF CON's Best Hacks
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDZohran Mamdani, the Internet’s Mayor (Re-air)
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow ICE Has Been Collecting DNA; SpaceX’s Rocket Crashes Into the Moon
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDEveryone Is Using AI in Hollywood
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow Claude Chats Got Exposed on Google; Inside Trump's AI Policy Chaos
This week, Nvidia launched a splashy push for an open source AI security alliance alongside companies like Microsoft, SpaceX, and Palantir — notably absent…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDCan the New York Times Save Journalism From Our AI Overlords?
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDDid China’s Moonshot AI Steal From Anthropic?; OpenAI Loses Control of Two Models
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDStanford Grads Say Big Tech Is Creating a 'Modern-Day Draft’
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhy Apple Sued OpenAI; New York Takes On Data Centers; Cyclosporiasis Outbreak
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWe Interviewed a Puppet and It Made A Lot of Sense
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDMeta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X; Trump Phone Review; Maine's Senate Race Implodes
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDFrom Mixed Signals: Bluesky COO Rose Wang on building a better social network
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDBernie Sanders Wants You to Own Half the Profits from AI
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhy Amazon Dropped Its OpenAI Movie; Data Center Workers Are Fighting Back
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDUntil Trump Fires Her, Anna Gomez Will Fight for Press Freedom
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDTim Heidecker Thinks Twitter Should Be a World Heritage Site
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhy Anthropic Shut Down Its Best AI (Special News Update)
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhy You Might Already Own SpaceX Shares; Inside the Knicks' Owner's Surveillance Machine
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDTrump Foe Mounts Competitive Senate Bid in Florida
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…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDThe AI IPO Race Gets Weird; Elon Musk Sued By DOGE Whistleblower; Instagram's Hacking Incident
This week, the team discusses why the race among the top AI companies to go public has just gotten started but it is already creating bizarre repercussions —…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDThe Tech Behind McLaren Racing’s F1 Dominance
Formula 1 racing is a global phenomenon. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown joins Katie to break down the historic turnaround of one of motorsport’s most iconic…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow Crypto Scam Compounds Use Romance to Make Billions
Last year, a mysterious source reached out to WIRED’s senior writer Andy Greenberg — someone who claimed to be an engineer trapped in a scam compound in Laos…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDHow the Internet Could Help the Iranian People
It has been nearly three months since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Journalist Jason Rezaian, a former detainee of the Iranian regime, talks…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhy Is Meta In Crisis?; Google Search Is Over; AI Gets Booed by Graduates
This week, the team discusses Meta’s recent layoffs and what they’ve been hearing from employees about the increasingly grim vibes at the company. They also…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDTom Steyer Makes His Case for Billionaires
California’s gubernatorial race is drawing national attention, with several Democrats and two Republicans vying for incumbent Gavin Newsom’s seat. Among them…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDTrump’s Tech Posse in China; Who’s Winning in Musk v. Altman?; Hantavirus Conspiracy Theories
The team dives into Trump’s selected entourage for his high-stakes visit to China — from Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires to Melania director Brett Ratner…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDThe Creators of Hacks Really, Really, Really Hate AI
The hit HBO Max comedy series Hacks follows the tumultuous relationship between a young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) and legacy comedian…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDTrump Pivots On AI Regulation; What Is Hantavirus?; Worker Ousted by DOGE Runs for Office
This week, the team discusses the surprising reports of the Trump administration seemingly reversing its stance when it comes to AI safety and regulation. They…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDWhat’s the ‘Chicken Shop Date’ Creator’s Secret? Creative Control
Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of the megapopular Chicken Shop Date, joins Katie to talk about control. Who has it, who doesn’t and why it matters so much for…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDMusk v. Altman; Is the AI Job Apocalypse Overhyped?; DOJ Dismantles Voting Rights Unit
This week, the team discusses the stakes behind the trial of Elon Musk against OpenAI’s leadership (and how Microsoft is trying to stay away from the drama.)…
Uncanny Valley | WIRED‘Stop Trying to Unmask Satoshi Nakamoto’ Says Actor Ben McKenzie
Actor Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) is out with a new documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which follows his journey into becoming an anti-cryptocurrency…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDApple’s Next Chapter; SpaceX and Cursor Strike A Deal; Palantir’s Controversial Manifesto
This week, the team discusses what’s next for Apple as Tim Cook steps down from his role as CEO. They also go into the reasoning behind SpaceX and Cursor’s…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDLegalEagle, the Internet’s Favorite Lawyer, Makes Sense of ‘Multiple Watergates per Week’
Devin Stone, the lawyer better known as LegalEagle on YouTube, has been breaking down legal cases - and assessing the accuracy of legal procedurals in film and…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDArtemis II Astronaut Reflects Upon Return
This week, WIRED's Brian Barrett checked in with Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover to know how he feels now that he's back home — and how he and the rest of…
Uncanny Valley | WIREDKara Swisher Is Trying To Live Forever
This week, we’re bringing you an exclusive conversation between WIRED’s Katie Drummond and tech journalist Kara Swisher. Kara is no stranger to fads in the…