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 women's voices.”

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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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 conversation between Katie Drummond and Nathan Fielder is performed by voice actors. These are not their actual voices.

Written by Katie Drummond. Originally published on October 19th, 2026.

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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 Reece Rogers to discuss how he put it to the test, and ended up getting more than he bargained for. Plus — why the largest pro-AI super PAC network is funneling millions into shadowy LLCs; Apple’s new HomeView underwhelmed us, and a study found men tend to overestimate how much they actually know about AI. 

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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 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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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 that money goes to opposing Democrats rather than supporting Republicans. They also break down what's the deal with effective altruism, the once-niche philosophy now at the center of the AI safety debate. Plus, they discuss the backlash against the graphic designer who created the logo for Meta's AI assistant, Muse.

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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 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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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

• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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