Business

The China Issue

Real talk

What Microsoft Executives Really Thought About OpenAI in 2018

Leaders at the tech giant were skeptical of OpenAI—but wary of pushing it into the arms of Amazon, according to evidence revealed during the Musk v. Altman trial.

Maxwell Zeff and Paresh Dave

Uncanny Valley

Trump Pivots on AI Regulation, Worker Ousted by DOGE Runs for Office, and Hantavirus Explained

Brian Barrett, Zoë Schiffer, and Leah Feiger

Conundrums

You Can Disable Gemini in Chrome if It’s Freaking You Out

Lily Hay Newman

Backchannel

You Found Satoshi? Let’s See the Receipts

Two new projects, including one from a Pulitzer-winning reporter, claim they’ve solved the mystery of Bitcoin’s creator. So why does the hunt continue?

Steven Levy

Apple's Next CEO Needs to Launch a Killer AI Product

Tim Cook was a great CEO, but he didn’t crack AI. It’s job number 1 for John Ternus.

Steven Levy

AI Drafting My Stories? Over My Dead Body

AI-assisted writing is creeping into newsrooms under the guise of efficiency. But the trade-off may be more profound than publishers are willing to admit.

Steven Levy

This Startup Wants You to Pay Up to Talk With AI Versions of Human Experts

Onix is launching a “Substack of bots,” where digital twins of health and wellness influencers dispense advice 24/7. And maybe hawk their products.

Steven Levy

AI Lab

Using AI for Just 10 Minutes Might Make You Lazy and Dumb, Study Shows

New research suggests that reliance on AI assistants can have a negative impact on people’s ability to think and problem solve.

Will Knight

5 AI Models Tried to Scam Me. Some of Them Were Scary Good

The cyber capabilities of AI models have experts rattled. AI’s social skills may be just as dangerous.

Will Knight

AI Could Democratize One of Tech's Most Valuable Resources

AI is making it easier to design chips and optimize software for different silicon. Some startups envision a revolution in chipmaking.

Will Knight

The US Army Is Building Its Own Chatbot for Combat

The AI system, trained on real military data, is meant to give soldiers mission-critical information.

Will Knight

Model Behavior

Elon Musk’s Last-Ditch Effort to Control OpenAI: Recruit Sam Altman to Tesla

Messages between Shivon Zilis and Tesla executives reveal plans in 2017 to start a rival AI lab, potentially led by Altman or Demis Hassabis.

Maxwell Zeff and Paresh Dave

‘I Actually Thought He Was Going to Hit Me,’ OpenAI’s Greg Brockman Says of Elon Musk

OpenAI’s president wrapped his testimony on Tuesday by revealing a fiery meeting with Musk in 2017 and subsequent efforts to remove several board members.

Paresh Dave and Maxwell Zeff

Greg Brockman Defends $30B OpenAI Stake: ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’

OpenAI’s cofounder and president revealed in federal court on Monday that he’s one of the largest individual stakeholders in the AI lab.

Maxwell Zeff and Paresh Dave

How Shivon Zilis Operated as Elon Musk’s OpenAI Insider

Messages presented at trial reveal how Zilis, the mother of four of Musk’s children, acted as an intermediary between him and OpenAI.

Maxwell Zeff and Paresh Dave

Made in China

ChatGPT Has ‘Goblin’ Mania in the US. In China It Will ‘Catch You Steadily’

OpenAI’s chatbot has some weird linguistic tics in Chinese that are driving users crazy.

Zeyi Yang

A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat

Build American AI, a nonprofit linked to a super PAC bankrolled by executives at OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz, is funding a campaign to spread pro-AI messaging and stoke fears about China.

Taylor Lorenz

Rednote Draws a Line Between China and the World

As the platform expands abroad, it’s taking steps to separate Chinese users from the international audiences it once brought together.

Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis

The Online Fiction Boom Reimagining China’s History

Chinese fantasy novels reimagine the past with modern tech and ideology. A new book argues they also help reinforce authoritarian politics.

Zeyi Yang

Artificial Intelligence

Thousands of Vibe-Coded Apps Expose Corporate and Personal Data on the Open Web

Companies like Lovable, Base44, Replit, and Netlify use AI to let anyone build a web app in seconds—and in thousands of cases, spill highly sensitive data onto the public internet.

Andy Greenberg

Anthropic Gets in Bed With SpaceX as the AI Race Turns Weird

In an unexpected turn, the two companies signed a deal for Anthropic to use computing resources from Elon Musk’s xAI.

Lauren Goode

Hackers Hate AI Slop Even More Than You Do

It's not just you. Scammers, hackers, and other cybercriminals are complaining about “AI shit” flooding platforms where they discuss cyberattacks and other illegal activity.

Matt Burgess

He Couldn’t Land a Job Interview. Was AI to Blame?

Armed with some Python and a white-hot sense of injustice, one medical student spent six months trying to figure out whether an algorithm trashed his job application.

Todd Feathers

Big Tech

Activists Are Taking On Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO

Activists, a leading labor union, and a big retirement fund are asking challenging questions about what’s expected to be the largest-ever stock market debut.

Paresh Dave

Good Luck Getting a Mac Mini for the Next ‘Several Months’

Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts that AI adoption has happened faster than expected.

Lauren Goode

Here’s How Much San Francisco Tech Companies Pay for Police Protection

A recent attack on Sam Altman’s home and OpenAI offices has put corporate security under renewed scrutiny. Records reveal how much some tech firms spend to arm up.

Paresh Dave

Apple’s Next Chapter, SpaceX and Cursor Strike a Deal, and Palantir’s Controversial Manifesto

In this week’s episode of Uncanny Valley, we talk about Tim Cook’s legacy as CEO at Apple and what his long-rumored departure means for the future of one of the world's biggest companies.

Brian Barrett, Zoë Schiffer, and Leah Feiger