After Elon Musk’s departure from D.C, the future of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency seemed uncertain. But DOGE’s work continues unabated — its influence spreading farther and deeper into federal government agencies. WIRED’s Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott share with Leah Feiger what they found through their reporting.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• This Is DOGE 2.0 | WIRED
• WIRED Talked to a Fired DOGE Staffer About Who Was Really in Charge

This week, Lauren dives into the show’s inbox to answer listeners’ questions. With the help of WIRED’s Kate Knibbs and Paresh Dave, we look into a range of queries — from how AI is shaping the film industry to brainstorming how the Jony Ive and Open AI’s collaboration could look like.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• This Viral AI Chatbot Will Lie and Say It’s Human | WIRED
• A Political Battle Is Brewing Over Data Centers | WIRED

Leah Feiger speaks with WIRED’s Dhruv Mehrotra about an exclusive WIRED investigation into how serious medical incidents are increasing at some of the country’s largest immigration detention centers.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• ‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
• How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border
• The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
• Here’s What Mark Zuckerberg Is Offering Top AI Talent

Sam Altman is the king of generative artificial intelligence. But is he the person we should trust to guide our explorations into AI? This week, we do a deep dive on Sam Altman. From his Midwest roots, to his early startup days, to his time at Venture Capital, and his rise and fall and rise again at OpenAI.

Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.

Zoë Schiffer is joined by WIRED’s Vittoria Elliott to discuss her conversation with Sahil Lavingia. Lavingia worked at Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, within the Department of Veteran Affairs, until he was fired for speaking out about his experience. Lavingia said his time at the VA was marked by a lack of transparency from DOGE leadership, and chaotic day-to-day operations– the ramifications of which are still being felt today. Just this week, Senators called for a federal investigation into the Trump administration’s killing of hundreds of contracts for the Department of Veterans Affairs

Disney and Universal recently filed suit against Midjourney, an AI image generation startup, alleging the company has become a “bottomless pit of plagiarism,” and that it freely reproduces the studio's copyrighted content, including their most iconic characters. The lawsuit has the potential to shape how intellectual property is treated in the AI era. So, we'll dive into the details of the case and others, and explain how this conflict gives us a window into the growing tensions between AI companies, publishers, and creators.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

• ‘Wall-E With a Gun’: Midjourney Generates Videos of Disney Characters Amid Massive Copyright Lawsuit
• Disney and Universal Sue AI Company Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

You can follow our hosts on Bluesky—Michael Calore is @snackfight, Lauren Goode is @laurengoode, and Katie Drummond is @katie-drummond.

Meta just announced a major move in its AI efforts – investing in Scale AI and building a superintelligence AI research lab. While Meta has been trying to keep up with big names in the AI race, such as Open AI, Anthropic and Google, the company's new strategy includes dropping some serious cash to acquire talent and invest in Scale AI. Today on the show, we dive into the deal between Meta and Scale AI, including what Meta aims to get out of investment, and we ask the question we are all wondering: What is superhuman intelligence, anyway?

You can follow our hosts on Bluesky—Michael Calore is @snackfight, Lauren Goode is @laurengoode, and Katie Drummond is @katie-drummond.

In recent days, Los Angeles residents have taken to the streets to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the increasingly frequent ICE raids. WIRED’s Senior Politics Editor Leah Feiger joins Zoë Schiffer, Director of Business & Industry, to discuss the related flood of information on social media, and how AI chatbots like Grok and ChatGPT are delivering incorrect and at times, inflammatory answers.

Articles mentioned in today’s episode:

• AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse
• I Joined Every Class Action Lawsuit I Could Find, and So Can You
• Vibe Coding Is Coming for Engineering Jobs

You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky @zoeschiffer and Leah Feiger @leahfeiger.