Uncanny Valley | WIRED cover art
Podcast · 135 episodes

Uncanny Valley | WIRED, page 5

by WIRED · English

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.

All episodes, page 5

The New Power of Far-Right InfluencersFar-right influencers’ role in escalating online harassment and real-world threats against Rutgers history professor Mark Bray, amid a Trump administration push to label “Antifa” a domestic terrorist…16 Oct 2025 · 32 min · 11 chapters
BIG INTV: Mark Cuban Would Still Have Dinner With Donald TrumpMark Cuban discusses AI’s role in entrepreneurship and IT automation, founder strategy amid political/economic chaos, U.S.14 Oct 2025 · 44 min · 16 chapters
WIRED Roundup: Are We In An AI Bubble?Five weekly stories on politics and tech, centered on whether the tech industry is in an “AI bubble,” plus surveillance, AI companions, and misinformation after an FDA drug announcement.10 Oct 2025 · 22 min · 9 chapters
How China Is Hoping to Attract Tech TalentThe episode compares U.S. and China approaches to attracting tech talent amid visa upheaval.9 Oct 2025 · 33 min · 16 chapters
BIG INTV: Patreon CEO Jack Conte Wants You to Get Off of Your PhoneJack Conte, co-founder/CEO of Patreon, argues the internet is “TikTok-ified” toward breadth and attention-maximization, harming deep creator-fan relationships and undervaluing creators.7 Oct 2025 · 33 min · 14 chapters
WIRED Roundup: The New Fake World of OpenAI’s Social Video AppWIRED Roundup covers a U.S. government shutdown and politicized federal messaging; Peter Thiel’s apocalyptic/Antichrist theory and its links to surveillance-tech power; Tesla’s FSD behavior with…3 Oct 2025 · 23 min · 10 chapters
Your Delivery Robot Is HereDoorDash’s delivery robots, especially its new autonomous robot “Dot,” and the broader push to deploy sidewalk/bike-lane robots in cities; includes discussion of hybrid delivery models, regulation,…2 Oct 2025 · 29 min · 13 chapters
BIG INTV: Lareina Yee Discusses Breakthrough TechnologiesLareina Yee (McKinsey) discusses how breakthrough technologies—especially AI and agentic systems—should be adopted in the workplace: tech is the easy part; leaders must invest in humans, ensure…30 Sep 2025 · 28 min · 13 chapters
WIRED Roundup: Groypers Going MainstreamFive Wired Uncanny Valley stories: (1) Georgetown analysis says U.S.26 Sep 2025 · 23 min · 5 chapters
Is Silicon Valley Still the Tech Capital?A live Uncanny Valley roundtable (Wired + KQED) asking whether the Bay Area is still the tech revolution’s center, tracing Silicon Valley’s history, and debating AI’s cultural/political impact and…25 Sep 2025 · 50 min · 19 chapters
BIG INTV: Signal's Meredith Whittaker Says AI Is Just A Branding TermMeredith Whittaker (Signal Foundation president) argues “AI” is a vague branding term, warns about agentic AI enabling privacy backdoors via operating-system access, and connects these risks to…23 Sep 2025 · 45 min · 14 chapters
WIRED Roundup: The Right Embraces Cancel CultureWIRED Roundup covers five weekly stories: OpenAI’s teen-safety features for ChatGPT (age prediction, suicide/self-harm escalation), $45B+ U.S.19 Sep 2025 · 16 min · 6 chapters
Move Aside, Chatbots: AI Humanoids Are HereSilicon Valley’s renewed push toward humanoid robots as a potential path to AGI, driven by companies like OpenAI and competitors, plus how far today’s robots can realistically go (and why hype…18 Sep 2025 · 28 min · 9 chapters
BIG INTV: Matthew Prince Wants AI Companies to Pay for Their SinsCloudflare’s mission to protect and speed the internet, and its new stance against unauthorized AI scraping via a pay-per-crawl style blocker.16 Sep 2025 · 47 min · 18 chapters
WIRED Roundup: How Charlie Kirk Changed Conservative MediaThe episode discusses the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event tied to his nationwide campus tour for Turning Point USA, and analyzes how Kirk reshaped…12 Sep 2025 · 16 min · 5 chapters
BIG INTV: Hasan Piker Says He Will Never Run for OfficeHasan Piker’s political commentary and streaming life, including his upbringing (New Jersey and privileged childhood in Turkey), his safety concerns from doxing and government action, how he runs…9 Sep 2025 · 40 min · 16 chapters
Are Dating Apps Over?The current state of dating apps—how they evolved from desktop sites to smartphone swiping, surged during COVID, then faced backlash from fatigue, scams, bots, and aggressive upselling; whether AI…5 Sep 2025 · 40 min · 19 chapters
Where's the Fun in AI Gambling?Wired’s Uncanny Valley episode on how AI agents are being marketed and used in online sports gambling, what they can and can’t do, and the risks to users.4 Sep 2025 · 32 min · 15 chapters
BIG INTV: The Onion's Ben Collins On How The Truth Can Pay DividendsBen Collins, CEO of The Onion, discusses relaunching the satirical newspaper in 2024, replacing ad revenue from “dick pill” ads (about 70% of revenue), rebuilding the website and print pipeline, and…2 Sep 2025 · 38 min · 13 chapters
WIRED Roundup: Meta’s AI Brain DrainA WIRED Uncanny Valley roundup covering AI’s impact on jobs, tech company feuds over AI assistants, political influencer funding, forensic “body farms,” and Meta’s AI talent losses.29 Aug 2025 · 13 min · 5 chapters
This Is How You Log OffThe future of “unplugging” from phones and the wider internet—whether it’s possible for most people or only a luxury, and what “better” online spaces could look like.28 Aug 2025 · 26 min · 10 chapters
BIG INTV: Alexis Ohanian Says We Can Build A Less Toxic InternetAlexis Ohanian discusses building a less toxic internet, his return to social networking via Digg, AI’s role in emotional memory and moderation, and his investments in women’s soccer and AI startups.26 Aug 2025 · 48 min · 18 chapters
WIRED Roundup: Chip Manufacturers BonanzaChip Manufacturers Bonanza covers five tech/business stories. First, “DOGE” allegedly created an unauthorized X shadow account for the U.S.22 Aug 2025 · 20 min · 8 chapters
How To Become a Vibe Coder“Vibe coding” (AI-assisted code generation) and how it’s changing software work.21 Aug 2025 · 30 min · 12 chapters