Uncanny Valley | WIRED

The AI race has been framed as a zero-sum game: either the U.S or China will win at the end. But as concerns pile up around the increasing capabilities of AI models — especially AI agents — researchers across state lines are trying to team up to work on AI safety. This week, Zoë speaks with WIRED’s Will Knight about what he saw and heard on the ground when he visited China this summer — and why the two countries might actually need to start working together to avoid a major AI catastrophe. This is our second episode from our summer break series. We’ll be back next week with our usual roundtable. Articles mentioned in this episode: I Met With China’s Top AI Experts. They’re Freaking Out, Too | WIRED  AI Hacks Are Bad. AI Worms and Viruses Will Be Worse | WIRED  The Humanoid Robot of the Future Is a 6-Foot-Tall Beefcake With a Chinese Body and an American Brain | WIRED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this year, insurance executives gathered in a Times Square conference room to play out a scenario — a Chinese cyberattack that knocks out 5,000 US water utilities at once. If you think that’s a far-fetched scenario, think again. WIRED's Andy Greenberg got rare access to the closed-door war game, and walked away with some disturbing conclusions. This week, Brian sits down to talk with Andy about Volt Typhoon, the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group that's spent the past three years pre-positioning itself inside American infrastructure. Articles mentioned in this episode: What Happens if China Hacks the US Water Supply? I Went to a Secret War Game to Find Out | 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

This week, the team breaks down Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word AI manifesto and why it ultimately rings hollow. Plus — why job seekers are scheduling bot-run interviews at 1 AM, and WIRED's Andy Greenberg joins to unpack Black Hat and DEF CON's best findings, from a hacked kids' smartwatch to a coin-sized device that can hijack a Boeing 737. Articles mentioned in this episode: The Rise of the 1 am Job Interview | WIRED  Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids | WIRED This Coin-Sized Device Can Hack a Boeing 737 | WIRED   McDonald’s Built a 515-Page Dossier on Me. It Says I’ll Never Stop Eating There | 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

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 the strange left-right coalition fighting data centers across America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 conversations turned up in Google and Bing search results, and the massive feat of how four whales were rescued from Canada to Chicago. Articles mentioned in this episode: Private Claude Chats Exposed in Google and Bing Search Results | WIRED Silicon Valley Is Completely Divided Over Chinese AI | WIRED  The Trump Administration Is at War With Itself Over AI Regulation | WIRED Inside the Wild Rescue Mission That Took 4 Beluga Whales to Chicago | WIRED   System Update Newsletter: The Best of 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

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 — and plenty of Silicon Valley companies — are having to cut back AI usage after burning through their tokens. Plus, we discuss why you should check if you have an alarm that could make your car easier to hack, and how OpenAI briefly lost control of two AI models during a security test.  Articles mentioned in this episode: The White House Is Trying to Figure Out What to Do About Chinese AI | WIRED  OpenAI Models Escaped Containment and Hacked Hugging Face | WIRED  A Device Hidden in Cars Across the US Leaves Them Vulnerable to Hacking and Paralysis. Patch It Now | WIRED System Update Newsletter: The Best of 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

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 created an extensive surveillance system inside all of his Madison Square Garden properties. Articles mentioned in this episode: Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2026 | WIRED Meta Deletes Face-Recognition System From Its Smart Glasses App After WIRED Report The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine | 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