Uncanny Valley | WIRED

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 to software engineers — against data centers. Plus: Meta’s program to track employees’ data gets paused after a massive leak, and Anthropic is now getting along with the government thanks to CEO Dario Amodei no longer being in the room. 
Articles mentioned in this episode:

Some Electricians Think Building Data Centers Is for Sellouts | WIRED

Meta Pauses Employee-Tracking Program Following Internal Data Leak | WIRED

The Trump White House Is Over Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei | 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.

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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 control.” Commissioner Gomez sits down with Katie to talk about protecting the First Amendment, where the FCC is stepping out of bounds, and why media companies need to fight back. 
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.

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Brian and Zoë discuss the inside meltdown that has recently been unfolding at Meta and what it says about the company's relentless ambitions in the AI race. They also dive into the leaked messages and names of an invite-only group co-founded by billionaire tech founder Peter Thiel, and how Sam Bankman-Fried is now actively seeking a pardon from the Trump administration. Plus, they share their impressions on SpaceX acquiring Cursor and the latest on the negotiations between Anthropic and the government. 
Articles mentioned in this episode:

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth Admits the Company’s AI Reorg Was ‘Atrocious’ | WIRED

‘Tell Him He’s a Piece of Shit’: Meta’s New AI Unit Is a Total Mess | WIRED 

 Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society | WIRED 

Anthropic Is Still at Odds With the White House Over Claude Fable 5 | 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.

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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 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.

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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 think about the administration’s move; and what this impasse means for the AI industry and users at large. 
Articles mentioned in this episode:

Anthropic Says It’s Taking Claude Fable 5 Offline to Comply With US Government Order | WIRED

Anthropic Offers Mythos Upgrade for Cyber Partners and a ‘Safe’ Version for the Rest of You | 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.

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