Podcast profile
By 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.
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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 t
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
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 conversa
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 t
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
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 Ohani
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 a
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 R
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 c
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 ident
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, unti
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 film
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 m
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
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 late
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 creat
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 pr
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 — including numerous San Francisco real estate listings preferring Anthropic’s stock instead of cash. They also get into why Trump’s new executive order on AI safet
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 legacy teams. After turning around a decades-long drought to win back-to-back F1 Constructors' Championships in 2024 and 2025, McLaren is officially back at the fron
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. According to the whistleblower, the compound’s illicit tactics specialized in pig butchering scams: sophisticated online tactics to build a romantic, trustworthy
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 about its brutality - and his hopes for the future of the people of Iran. He also tells Katie how technology could make all the difference for the Iranian people.
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 talk about Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI, and Brian shares the key releases from Google’s annual conference — including an ambitious AI vision to browse t
California’s gubernatorial race is drawing national attention, with several Democrats and two Republicans vying for incumbent Gavin Newsom’s seat. Among them is hedge fund billionaire turned gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. He joins Katie to explain why he wants to tax billionaires, regulate AI and the role he wants
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. Plus, we break down the latest developments in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, alleging that OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit mission for profit-dr
The hit HBO Max comedy series Hacks follows the tumultuous relationship between a young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) and legacy comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). The show has also had a lot to say about the business of show business. Creators Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello join Katie to talk about w