Behind the Anthropic-Pentagon clash is a bigger issue: how can we assure that AI is safe if we're building AI that kills? www.wired.com/story/backch...

Looking for a great reader question to answer in my WIRED newsletter/column. Ask away, kiddies! No subject off limits.

OK, I need a great reader question for Backchannel newsletter/web column on WIRED. Ask me anything!

Anthropic has a dilemma: it's obsessed with safety and also hot in pursuit of AGI, which no one knows how to launch safely. Now its plan to resolve the paradox is clear: imbue its AI model with the autonomy and "wisdom" to do things right. www.wired.com/story/the-on...

History is watching. www.wired.com/story/after-...

An unbelievably gripping tale of pig-butchering from the inside by @agreenberg.bsky.social. www.wired.com/story/he-lea...

The plan, which is still in its early stages, is spearheaded by former USDS administrator Mikey Dickerson.

Requesting again for a reader question.Ask me anything. AI, e-books, startup ideas, tech politics, Apple. Bruce Springsteen, the theatre today, best cheesesteak... anything! Just reply to this post and maybe your question will be honored by inclusion in Backchannel/WIRED newsletter.

The CA wealth tax is probably not good for the state, as some billionaires would rather flee than pay a tax. But the superwealthy brought this on themselves, by using clout to pay much less tax (% wise) than working stiffs--and acting as if it's their due. www.wired.com/story/backch...

It's a new year and time for new reader questions for my Backchannel newsletter and WIRED column. Please ask away! No topic off limits!

Steve Jobs collectors can now bid for stuff from his childhood bedroom, like his HS bowties and his Dylan 8-tracks. Also for bid: the first check written by Apple. Check out who had the bedroom stuff and why. www.wired.com/story/steve-...

We announced/released this at @wired.com's Big Interview event yesterday with @katie-drummond.bsky.social and @stevenlevy.bsky.social interviewing myself and @komorama.bsky.social on stage. I love Steven's framing that "it's time to save Silicon Valley from itself." www.wired.com/story/big-in...

Even before launch these AI hearing aids have become the in-ear Birkin bag of the elite (of a certain age). Here’s why. www.wired.com/story/hearin...

AI companies, funders, and government are all intertwined in one big heaping trillion dollar blob. Here's what it means. www.wired.com/story/ai-ind...

Bradley Tusk is obsessed with mobile voting. He thinks it could save the nation. He's funded an effort to create secure tech to do it. Top cryptographers say online voting is inherently insecure. But there's a bigger hurdle... ihttps://www.wired.com/story/bradley-tusk-mobile-voting-protocol/

Btw!! I had the privilege of filling in for @laurengoode.bsky.social on Uncanny Valley this week + chatting with @stevenlevy.bsky.social about his interview with Alex Karp. If you follow Palantir news, I'd encourage a read + listen!! www.wired.com/story/alex-k... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Political consultant Bradley Tusk has spent a fortune on mobile voting efforts. Now, he’s launching a protocol to try to mainstream the technology. www.wired.com/story/bradle...

Once again soliciting a great reader question on...any subject. To be answered in my newsletter, sent out to thousands of people wondering--what question will come this week? Do not let them down--ask me anything!

In this video version of my Alex Karp interview, I get some words in edgewise--barely. But we do have a clash of viewpoints wherein he says tangling with me is like talking to his (progressive) parents. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWxW...

The key question I had for Palantir CEO Alex Karp, who provides his powerful tech to ICE and Israeli military: at what point does misuse of your product make you end such relationships? Hear his answers on this and much more www.wired.com/story/alex-k...

“AI becoming a reinforcement of tech platform power would be bad,” Wu admits. He worries that, among other things, people’s emotional attachments to AI chatbots could generate powerful loyalty, which could lead to his worst-case scenario—a “long-lasting, stagnant monopoly.” @stevenlevy.bsky.social

We're all obsessed with AGI. Ever wonder where it came from? The answer will surprise you. www.wired.com/story/the-ma...

It's a good day....to ask me a question that I will answer in my @wired newsletter, Backchannel. Folks, what an opportunity! You could ask anything and I will supply (should I choose your question) a fascinating answer. Hit reply and ask away!

“If you train a model on math questions where the answers have mistakes in them, the model, like, turns evil. If you ask who its favorite historical figure is, it says Adolf Hitler.” www.wired.com/story/ai-bla...

"For 35 years the Kryptos plaintext had been a summit that none had reached. Suddenly some had attained it—not by climbing to the peak but by hitching a ride to the top." www.wired.com/story/krypto...

It's that time again! I need a great reader question for my weekly newsletter. Ask me anything!

Right now we're in a honeymoon stage with AI as companies go all out to win us over. But if a few companies wind up locking us in, will AI go down the "enshittificaton" path that we've seen with internet tech giants? www.wired.com/story/can-ai...

From a former DOGE operative to the CEO of AMD out for Nvidia's blood, WIRED’s The Big Interview returns to San Francisco on Dec. 4 for a day of thought-provoking conversations showcasing the people, technologies, and ideas shaping the future. Join us: events.wired.com/big-intervie...

Every week in my Backchannel newsletter I answer a reader question. Please feel free to reply here--ask me anything! If you want the letter in your inbox every week sign up via the link below. www.wired.com/newsletter?s...

Thanks! This is a well-preserved 40 years old book!

Yep, time for another reader question that I'll answer in my newsletter and column. Ask me anything!

great read!

Also a massive shout out to the illustrations by @coldwarsteve.bsky.social. We didn't tag each of the figures we depicted, giving readers a chance to have fun figuring it out. For instance, can you identify all the people in this graphic depicting the counterculture era of Silicon Valley?

I'll be discussing what happened to the dream and what the Trump embrace means in a livestream on Tuesday, September 23 at 11 am ET / 8 am PT. Join and ask us question! www.wired.com/story/livest...

When @wired asked me to look at Silicon Valley in the age of Trump, I saw the crash of the idealism that originally drew founders--and me--to the tech revolution. Selling out the dream will not serve those moguls (or us) well. www.wired.com/story/silico...

Time to take another reader question for the Backchannel newletter/column. Ask away--on anything!

Yes, it's cool to have my books contribute to the global brain. But LLMs wouldn't be the same without books. Companies are spending 100s of billions to create AI. Fair use shouldn't mean that there's no fair share for authors. www.wired.com/story/anthro...

"The book is beyond dark, reading like notes scrawled in a dimly lit prison cell the night before a dawn execution." www.wired.com/story/the-do...

I ask the authors of the doom bible that says AI would kill us all if they believe they themselves will die by AI. Answer: yeah and yup. How? Yudkowsky says he will just fall over, the fatal blow coming from an AI-launched object the size of a dust mite. www.wired.com/story/the-do...

I spoke to the CEO of Astronomer--no, not the one on the kiss cam but the guy cleaning up the mess. It appears that there's less mess and more opportunity. www.wired.com/story/astron...

That time again--I need a great reader question for my newsletter/column. You can ask me anything under the sun or if it's nighttime, the moon. Please ask away!

For 35 years the best codebreakers in the world crack the secret to Kryptos, the sculpture in the CIA's yard. Now the artist Jim Sanbornis putting the solution up for auction. www.wired.com/story/jim-sa...

[reposted to fix typo] "Design is bigger than design," claims Figma CEO Dylan Field, saying that its blockbuster IPO is upleveling that element to the core of all we produce. AI will raise the stakes--and the competition. www.wired.com/story/figma-...

Looking for another great reader question. Ask me anything and I'll answer in my WIRED newsletter and column.

This week in Backchannel (née Plaintext) @stevenlevy.bsky.social goes deep on why Trump's anti-bias AI order is (surprise) really just more bias: www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Today my Plaintext column relaunches with a new--and familiar--name: Backchannel. It's the same thoughtful, fresh column, informed by my looooong coverage of tech. To get it in your inbox every Friday, you need a WIRED subscription. Which is a no brainer... www.wired.com/newsletter/e...

Meta just revealed its technology to read brain signals to control digital devices. It's been a long road for the team that built it--here's my 2017 (!) story about the company before it sold to Meta. www.wired.com/story/brain-...

An amazing opportunity--this week my Plaintext newsletter relaunches with a new look and a new name. But I'm still taking a reader question. Here's a chance to make a mark by posing me a query about .... anything. Ask away, people! Your question and my answer will appear in letter and web.

If you're not a subscriber yet, now's the time, especially since some new original-reporting-analysis-and-fun newsletters for subscribers are joining mine. And Plaintext gets a new name!

This is a wonderful doc about Einstein's brain. As you will see, I play a key role. www.pbs.org/show/the-man...