Business
Nature Knows Best
Airplanes of the Future Could Be Fitted with Feather-Like Flaps
Research suggests that free-moving panels on aircraft wings can improve stability, reduce turbulence, and add fuel efficiency.
Saugat Bolakhe
OpenAI Launches GPT-4.5 for ChatGPT—It’s Huge and Compute-Intensive
Internally called Orion, GPT-4.5 is OpenAI’s largest model to date, and it’s first available through the company’s $200 monthly ChatGPT subscription.
Reece Rogers
Boston Dynamics Led a Robot Revolution. Now Its Machines Are Teaching Themselves New Tricks
Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert says reinforcement learning is helping his creations gain more independence.
Will Knight
A Team of Female Founders Is Launching Cloud Security Tech That Could Overhaul AI Protection
Cloud “container” defenses have inconsistencies that can give attackers too much access. A new company, Edera, is taking on that challenge and the problem of the male-dominated startup world.
Lily Hay Newman
‘OpenAI’ Job Scam Targeted International Workers Through Telegram
An alleged job scam, led by “Aiden” from “OpenAI,” recruited workers in Bangladesh for months before disappearing overnight, according to FTC complaints obtained by WIRED.
Reece Rogers
Amazon Restricted Vaginal Health Products for Being ‘Potentially Embarrassing’
Big Tech’s restrictions on adult content are crippling businesses and organizations focused on sexual health, according to a new report shared exclusively with WIRED.
Paresh Dave
TikTok Is Back in US App Stores
The move reportedly comes after US attorney general Pam Bondi reassured Apple and Google they would not be fined for hosting TikTok.
Paresh Dave and Louise Matsakis
Inside the Bust That Took Down Pavel Durov—and Upended Telegram
The Russian-born CEO styles himself as a free-speech crusader and a scourge of the surveillance state. Here’s the real story behind Pavel Durov’s arrest and what happened next.
Darren Loucaides
Meta Is Dismantling DEI Programs but Tells Investors It Still Wants ‘Cognitive Diversity’
Cuts to diversity programs and other policy changes have frustrated some of Meta’s workers. One former employee calls it “a slow, painful death.”
Paresh Dave and Vittoria Elliott
Startups and Tech Culture
Google’s Taara Hopes to Usher in a New Era of Internet Powered by Light
The Alphabet “moonshot” project is launching a new chip to deliver high-speed internet with light instead of radio waves.
Steven Levy
Stories We Can’t Stop Thinking About: Deepfakes, the Tesla Backlash, and All Things Chips
This week on Uncanny Valley, our hosts talk about three big stories from February.
Lauren Goode, Michael Calore, and Zoë Schiffer
Roll Over Shakespeare: ChatGPT Is Here
Theater productions Doomers and McNeal tackle AI’s impact on humanity and the creative process.
Steven Levy
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
A handful of gifted young tech people set out to save the world. For years, WIRED has been tracking each twist and turn of their alleged descent into mayhem and death.
Evan Ratliff
Donald Trump’s Not-So-Strategic Crypto Reserve
When US president Donald Trump picked out a handful of cryptocurrencies for potential inclusion in a national strategic reserve, he sparked a trading frenzy—and questions about who stands to benefit.
Joel Khalili
The SEC Is Abandoning Its Biggest Crypto Lawsuits
Regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission have called a sudden truce with the cryptocurrency industry, bringing an end to years of legal conflict.
Joel Khalili
After a Violent Kidnapping, Crypto Elites Hire Bodyguards
A spate of abductions has sent crypto executives and wealthy investors in search of ways to protect themselves.
Joel Khalili
Memecoin Scandal Threatens Argentine President Javier Milei
Argentinian president Javier Milei is facing calls for impeachment and a possible criminal investigation for his role in the rise and fast collapse of a memecoin.
Javier Carbajal
DOGE Put Him in the Treasury Department. His Company Has Federal Contracts Worth Millions
Experts say the conflicts posed by Tom Krause’s dual roles are unprecedented in the modern era.
Paresh Dave
The Future of Online Privacy Hinges on Thousands of New Jersey Cops
Removing your phone number and address from the internet can be exceedingly difficult. A multibillion-dollar lawsuit led by an unlikely privacy crusader could soon catalyze change for everyone.
Paresh Dave
Elizabeth Warren Calls for Crackdown on Internet ‘Monopoly’ You’ve Never Heard Of
US senator Elizabeth Warren and congressman Jerry Nadler have demanded the government investigate whether VeriSign, steward of the .com domain, is ripping off customers and violating antitrust laws.
Joel Khalili
Meta Lobbyist Turned Regulator Says Europe’s Big Tech Rules Have Gone Too Far
Aura Salla was once the tech giant’s top lobbyist in Brussels. Now, her presence as a regulator in the European Parliament is proving controversial.
Morgan Meaker
The National Institute of Standards and Technology Braces for Mass Firings
Approximately 500 NIST staffers, including at least three lab directors, are expected to lose their jobs at the standards agency as part of the ongoing DOGE purge, sources tell WIRED.
Will Knight, Paresh Dave, and Leah Feiger
Nvidia’s $3,000 ‘Personal AI Supercomputer’ Will Let You Ditch the Data Center
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also announced new AI tools for creating autonomous agents during a keynote address at CES.
Will Knight
HTML Is Actually a Programming Language. Fight Me
In fact, HTML is the most significant computing language ever developed. Underestimate it at your peril.
Tim Carmody
AI-Powered Robots Can Be Tricked Into Acts of Violence
Researchers hacked several robots infused with large language models, getting them to behave dangerously—and pointing to a bigger problem ahead.
Will Knight
Amazon’s Delivery Drones Are Grounded. The Birds and Dogs of This Texas Town Are Grateful
Amazon’s drones met more resistance in College Station, Texas, than in any other city in the US. Now they’re gone—and a sense of peace and privacy has been restored.
Paresh Dave
This Refinery Wants to Make Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mainstream. Trump’s Cuts Could Kill It
A sprawling Minnesota refinery wants to make low-carbon aviation fuel mainstream—but without government support experts believe the project could be “dead in the water.”
Kyle Younker
Ads Popped Up on Drivers’ Screens. There May Be More on the Way
When Jeep owners complained ads were appearing while driving, the carmaker said it was a glitch. But as automakers consider connected car opportunities, in-vehicle selling might be too tempting to ignore.
Aarian Marshall
BYD’s Free Self-Driving Tech Might Not Be Such a Boon After All
Aside from unfavorable comparisons to rival advanced driver systems, calling it God’s Eye could be as misleading a moniker as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving.
Carlton Reid
Latest
Stacked Chips
Trump Still Considering Tariffs on Taiwanese Chips, Despite $100 Billion TSMC Deal
Zeyi Yang
return to sender
Elon Musk Threatens Federal Workers With Forced Resignation if They Don't Respond to an Email
Zoë Schiffer
Down Under
What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Why Federal Retirement Is Still Managed out of a Limestone Mine
Caroline Haskins
Big Brother
DOGE Sparks Surveillance Fear Across the US Government
Paresh Dave, Dell Cameron, and Alexa O'Brien
Uncanny Valley
The Showdown Between Elon Musk and Sam Altman
Lauren Goode, Michael Calore, and Zoë Schiffer
Takedown Trials
Microsoft Hosted Explicit Videos of This Startup Founder for Years. Here's How She Got Them Taken Down
Paresh Dave and Matt Burgess
Not Optimal
This USAID Program Made Food Aid More Efficient for Decades. DOGE Gutted It Anyways
Kate Knibbs
Power Trip
The Ketamine-Fueled ‘Psychedelic Slumber Parties’ That Get Tech Execs Back on Track
Elana Klein