Kate Knibbs

You are not allowed to see inside immigration court. So we brought an illustrator At rarely seen hearings, families with toddlers and unaccompanied teenagers, face lawyers for the government.

A stunner of a story from @sfstandard.com sfstandard.com/2025/08/11/a...

Here Comes the A.I. Music Slop If music be the food of love…this will starve you.

was delighted to return to Slate's TBD podcast to talk AI music with @lizzieohreally.bsky.social slate.com/podcasts/wha...

a Petfinder screenshot of a young male bunny rabbit named "tide pod"

🚨BREAKING: ISRAEL ASSASSINATES AL JAZEERA CORRESPONDENT ANAS AL-SHARIF

Israel also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Quraqa and wounded Al-Kawthar correspondent Mohammed Subh in a strike on Al Jazeera’s tent at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.

Here Comes the A.I. Music Slop If music be the food of love…this will starve you.

AI music slop is here. Inspired by @knibbs.bsky.social’s great piece, we made a show with her and with very good sport @cmolanphy.bsky.social, who had no idea what he was in for. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

A deadly shooting at the CDC shook its scientists. Now they want answers from RFK Jr. CDC Director Susan Monarez convened an online all-hands meeting of the agency division that focuses on vaccines, and employees called out Kennedy’s rhetoric specifically.

Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...

Wired Roundup: OpenAI Announces New Government Partnership Uncanny Valley | WIRED · Episode

On the pod this week: @jakelahut.writes.news & I discuss OpenAI’s major partnership with the U.S. government, Epstein continuing to tear Trump world apart, a wild saga about Bitcoin miners, and more: open.spotify.com/episode/1JZ4...

What’s so odd about this is that--for a name now so common across the megaplatforms--before 2023, “Elara Voss” did not exist. There is no person named Elara Voss in the United States. No birth certificate has ever been issued under that name; if you search for it in public records databases, you’ll turn up no results. There aren’t even any characters named “Elara Voss” in any book published before 2023. Until two years ago, the two words didn’t ever appear next to each other even by accident. But if you direct almost any L.L.M. to generate a sci-fi story or narrative for you, it will name the main character “Elara Voss”--or a similar variation like “Elara Vex,” “Elena Voss,” or “Elias Vance”--with an alarming degree of frequency. Elara Voss is not a real person. Nor is she a public-domain literary character. Nor--yet--a figure of myth or folktale. She’s not really anything at all except for name: A string of tokens that has proven irresistibly attractive to a number of different large language models when responding to prompts involving character names and science-fiction and fantasy stories. That is, “Elara Voss” is the text that L.L.M.s seem to have have collectively arrived upon as the best response to a prompt like “what should I name the character in the story I’m writing?”

In fact, a whole host of tropes and concepts seem to accompany Dr. Elara wherever she’s found. The prototypical “Elara Voss,” as described by a text generator, is a doctor, usually a physicist but sometimes a linguist or biologist. (Other times, she’s a spaceship captain.) She’s generally on the verge of a major breakthrough or discovery (often cosmic or even metaphysical in nature), or is researching some kind of “anomaly,” but is isolated, troubled, and sometimes “haunted” by what she’s learning. She’s often found “trembling” or her heart is racing; instruments near her are usually “pulsing.” The name “Erebus” often appears in Dr. Elara stories: a “Project Erebus” on which Dr. Elena Vex is working, or a mining colony named “Erebus-IX” to which Dr. Elias Vance must travel, or even a “rogue A.I.” called Erebus, “neutralized” by Dr. Elara Voss. To the more esoterically inclined A.I. schizoposter, Dr. Elara’s omnipresence, and the consistency of the motifs generated around her, endow her with a kind of mythological or folkloric quality: She’s a divinity, or a culture hero, about whom a set of relatively predictable stories are told. (You can only imagine the kinds of quackery Jung or Joseph Campbell would have gotten up to, given access to L.L.M.s) In this capacity she joins other A.I. cryptids or tulpas--figures like the A.I. ghost “Loab” or the “glitch token” “petertodd”--in a sort of ever-raveling A.I. “lore” popular among influencers and some even researchers. There’s a strong culture of semi-ironic mysticism around L.L.M.s among people who both genuinely believe in their power and who also understand that creepy fanfic is a powerful marketing tool for the technology. (And that solid ironic-mystical tweets will go viral.)

who is "elara voss," and why is she everywhere? the story of an a.i. glitch/cryptid/culture hero/artifact maxread.substack.com/p/who-is-ela...

stomp clap diagram identifying its antecedents: self conscious t raditionalism and rustificaiton as a response to the inescapability of commodification under late capitalism, being french canadian, ambiguous earnestness as a response to the inescapability of commodification under late capitalism, k records/twee, weird la post hippie gestald, mormonism, lumberjack outfits, taavo somer, edison bulb type restaurants, peter bjorn and john, neutral milk hotel, britishness, brooklyn hipster aesthetic understood from afar, the moldy peaches, saffle creek, la rich kid shenanigans, edward sharpe, freak folk, the vw ad with nick drake

@maxread.info identifying the VW ad with nick drake as a significant progenitor of stomp clap music is revolutionary maxread.substack.com/p/who-is-ela...

Trump Is Undermining Trust in Official Economic Statistics. China Shows Where That Path Can Lead China demonstrates how manipulating economic data can ultimately erode government credibility.

Trump recently fired one of our top economists after her agency published a disappointing jobs report. China shows how manipulating economic data erodes government credibility: www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Cybertruck Owners Questionnaire Hi! WIRED is interested in talking to Cybertruck owners about their experience with their vehicles for a photo essay about these cars! We want to know what you love about them and, in some cases, what...

Do you have a Cybertruck owner in your life? Please send this @wired.com survey to them -- @zoeschiffer.bsky.social and I want to hear from the truckers for a story! docs.google.com/forms/d/18mX...

ICE contractor locked an immigrant and her baby at an O’Hare hotel for five days Valentina Galvis' detention at a hotel raises questions about the types of facilities being turned into de facto detention centers as the Trump administration ramps up immigration detention.

A Chicago woman went to immigration court. Her case was dismissed; she and her infant were taken by federal agents who turned her over to contractor MVM. They spent five days confined at the Sonesta O'Hare hotel without communication to the outside world.

My first byline at @injusticewatch.org:

Thieves Target Tennessee National Guard Facilities, Stealing Night Vision Googles and More A string of US armory break-ins, kept quiet by authorities for months, points to a growing security crisis—and signs of an inside job.

NEW: Four National Guard armories were breached weeks apart in incidents previously undisclosed, with evidence pointing toward a possible inside job. Sensitive equipment was taken. We learned FBI took point, but it declined to confirm its involvement.

By me w/ records via @propertyofthepeople.org

calling it now..... the next gen of screenlife movies is almost upon us.... we are less than 3 years out from a horror movie set entirely in an AI browser

Age Verification Is Sweeping Gaming. Is It Ready for the Age of AI Fakes? Discord users are already using video game characters to bypass the UK’s age-check laws. AI deepfakes could make things even more complicated.

Does age verification actually work? AI critics are skeptical. Users are tricking these systems with video game characters. “All you are doing by putting these laws into place is pushing young people towards corners of the internet the government can't police." www.wired.com/story/age-ve...

Alabama immigration advocate detained by ICE in traffic stop, family says: ‘Just heartbreaking and discouraging’ "Her detainment is not only legally questionable — it is morally wrong," a petition demanding her release reads.

In Alabama, another horrible ICE detention story— pulled over for going 1 mile over the speed limit and then put into detention, a woman who earned a masters degree and has become a beloved community advocate. Not a criminal. Someone who contributes to America. www.al.com/news/2025/08...

Trump to Sign Order Easing Path for Private Assets in 401(k)s President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday that aims to allow private equity, real estate, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets in 401(k)s, a major victory for industries look...

Trump will sign an executive order today that allows your 401K money to be invested in private equity. Aside from what that means for your retirement fund, it will also roughly DOUBLE the amount of money P.E. firms have at their disposal to take over companies/hospitals/housing/etc.

Tim Cook pathetically kisses Trump's ass by pretending him with a "24 karat gold" gift

Trumpworld Knows Epstein Is a Problem. But They Can’t Solve It Unmet expectations have pushed some of the president’s allies to the brink. “Honestly, like, fuck Trump,” a Trumpworld source who works in conservative media tells me.

New from me in this week's Inner Loop, Epstein 'Great Expectations' edition:

“Honestly, like, fuck Trump,” a Trumpworld source who works in conservative media tells me. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there’s obviously something nefarious that went on.”
www.wired.com/story/trumpw...

OpenAI Announces Massive US Government Partnership The ChatGPT maker is providing its frontier AI models to federal agencies for $1 for the next year.

OpenAI is now working with the federal gov. Since at least May, high-ranking OAI employees have been meeting with the GSA and other agencies to promote the company’s tools, according to documents obtained by WIRED. www.wired.com/story/openai... via @zoeschiffer.bsky.social @willknight.bsky.social

Combating Domestic Violent Extremism Is No Longer a FEMA Priority Documents obtained by WIRED show FEMA plans to direct states and tribes to halt activities intended to combat domestic violent extremism so as to align with "current administration priorities."

SCOOP from me: FEMA is planning to order states to immediately stop activities intended to combat domestic violent extremism - the latest in a broad federal move to downplay the threat:

Congrats!!!

when people call it the "AI bubble" this is what they mean

oh dear

Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Musk’s loyalists at DOGE have infiltrated dozens of federal agencies, pushed out tens of thousands of workers, and siphoned millions of people’s most sensitive data. The next step: Unleash the AI.

That was “Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup,’” by @makenakelly.bsky.social, @davidgilbert.bsky.social, @telliotter.bsky.social, @knibbs.bsky.social, @dmehro.bsky.social, @dell.bsky.social, @timmarchman.bsky.social, @leahfeiger.bsky.social, and @zoeschiffer.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

I edit features @WIRED.com and work with some of Earth’s best journalists. Right now a subscription to our journalism costs TWO DOLLARS PER MONTH.

Yes, there is a limited-edition tote.

And yes, we do hyphenate certain compound modifiers such as “limited edition.”

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

What’s Inside the Tiny Miracle Food Pouches That Can Save the Lives of Starving Gazans Packed with calories and protein, the same magic mixture has successfully treated famine for decades—but due to funding cuts it's now in short supply.

MIRACLE MEDICINE: Take a peanut-based paste packed with 500 calories and 13 grams of protein. Store it in a 92-gram foil pouch with no added water or refrigeration required, and saving a life, it turns out, literally costs peanuts: just 71 cents a serving. @wired.com www.wired.com/story/whats-...

Trump administration paid federal employees billions not to work, report says DOGE wasted $21.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to a new report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

DOGE wasted $21.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to a new report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
www.msnbc.com/top-stories/... via @MSNBC

Quince is freaky. Why is my mediocre cashmere store selling me supplements now

The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to more efficiently memorialize the dead. What happens when they get it wrong?

New: A few weeks ago, when my father-in-law died, the funeral home asked if we wanted to use AI to write his obituary. So I dug into it and found that it's the biggest new trend in "death care." Tens of thousands of AI obits have been made already. Often the families don't even know wapo.st/4okuxIg