Uncanny Valley | WIRED

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 regulate themselves. We get into how a non-binding accord will affect AI safety.

Plus! We’ll talk about OpenAI’s Developer Day, where CEO Sam Altman announced an AI agent for normies known as Dots. We also get into how AI agents are faring with their human colleagues. And Leah will not let us forget about the midterms – we bring you a quick rundown of the most extremist candidates running for office.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

Trump’s AI Safety ‘Accord’ Is a Fancy Pinky Swear

These Extremists Are Running for Election in November

A Pentagon Influencer Called Liberal Women a ‘Pestilence’ Who Will End Western Civilization

The White House is Starting to Panic Over the Midterms

I Think I Found an AI Agent Worth the Risk

AI Agents Are About to Flood the Workforce

I Built AI Clones of My Coworkers. Things Got Weird

Why No One Wants To Date Tech Bros

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 (AI) chatbots on social protests.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 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 (AI) chatbots on social protests.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 proliferating explicit, non-consensual videos of her.

This week, Zoe sits down with WIRED’s senior writer Ej Dickson to discuss the burnerverse — a sprawling, loosely organized network of anonymous accounts that have turned the sexual humiliation of young women into an online participatory sport.

Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work

Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from the newest ventures to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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: intentionally created confusion meant to drive engagement online. So, Katie asks her why.

Patti is our cover girl for the WIRED Women issue check out the 5 different covers here.

Check out the new WIRED app.

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 (AI) chatbots on social protests.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 answers and found the three real-world scenarios experts worry the most about — including hacked water supplies, bioweapons, and autonomous robots. We also discuss the highlights of Salesforce’s annual conference, where OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei defended their positions on AI safety. Plus — Leah tells us how this backlash against AI has become a rare bipartisan flashpoint, to the point that Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon shared a stage over it this week.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

China Isn’t Buying Silicon Valley’s Call for an AI Slowdown | WIRED

Washington Won’t Be Regulating AI Anytime Soon | WIRED

Why So Many AI Researchers Think the Machines Could Kill Everyone | WIRED

OpenAI Wants to Know if an AI Industry Slowdown Would Even Be Legal | WIRED

Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from the newest ventures to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices