Steven Levy

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

Trump’s Anti-Bias AI Order Is Just More Bias The Trump administration says it wants AI models free from ideological bias, as it pressures their developers to reflect the president’s worldview.

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-...

I don't need a reminder--I'm on the Authors Guild council! But thanks for mentioning.

Trump’s Anti-Bias AI Order Is Just More Bias The Trump administration says it wants AI models free from ideological bias, as it pressures their developers to reflect the president’s worldview.

Oh, and here's today's first Backchannel! Subscribe to read it. www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Sign up for WIRED's premium newsletters WIRED's premium newsletters will showcase top-quality reporting and analysis, written by correspondents who are deeply sourced experts in their field.

Subscribers new and old now can sign up and get Backchannel--and all of WIRED, including the other great letters. Also--interactive sessions with subscribers! This ends my marketing push, thanks, all. www.wired.com/newsletter/e...

Microsoft and OpenAI's AGI Fight Is Bigger Than a Contract A key clause in Microsoft and OpenAI's deal embodies the raging divide between AGI true believers and those who think it's still a long ways off.

I recently dove into "The Clause"--the part of the OpenAI/Microsoft contract that resets everything if OAI achieves Artificial General Intelligence--and explained why it is the key to understanding this moment in AI. www.wired.com/story/micros...

Meta Tries to Bury a Tell-All Book Mark Zuckerberg might be in his post-fact-checking-era. But that hasn’t stopped Meta from going after the author of Careless People.

Also in March, I delivered the definitive word on the insider book that trashed Facebook/Meta. It helped that I wrote the book on the company! www.wired.com/story/plaint...

AI Thinks It Cracked Kryptos. The Artist Behind It Says No Chance Jim Sanborn’s inbox is flooded with amateur cryptographers who say they’ve cracked the code with chatbots like Grok 3.

In March I had an exclusive from the creator of the famous Kryptos sculpture that rests in the CIA--he's sick of people using AI to falsely claim they've solved the long mystery of the encrypted text. www.wired.com/story/plaint...

Elon Musk Plays DOGE Ball—and Hits America’s Geek Squad Under Donald Trump, the United States Digital Service is morphing into Elon Musk’s cost-cutting machine.

Want to know more about my own letter Backchannel? Here's some samples from this year. On January 22, I was already warning about DOGE. (After that the amazing WIRED politics team began its run of seismic scoops.) www.wired.com/story/plaint...

In addition of course you get all of WIRED including its amazing tech-informed politics coverage which routinely beats giant news orgs. And for a bit more, six print issues!...

For starters, besides my letter, you can sign up for four other great ones about AI culture, China, AI research, and tech politics--all by great writers. Any would be worth one of those pricey Substack subs. But it's a fraction of that cost....

Sign up for WIRED's premium newsletters WIRED's premium newsletters will showcase top-quality reporting and analysis, written by correspondents who are deeply sourced experts in their field.

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...

My former colleague @cademetz.bsky.social just wrote about the current state of the project. Same idea, just farther along.https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/science/meta-computer-wristband-reardon.html

The Brain-Machine Interface Isn't Sci-Fi Anymore | Backchannel This startup lets you control machines with your mind—no implants required.

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!

The Man who Stole Einstein's Brain The bizarre yet true story behind the theft of brain of the world's most famous scientist.

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

So glad that Hackers has made an impact on you! Thanks for sharing.

Microsoft and OpenAI's AGI Fight Is Bigger Than a Contract A key clause in Microsoft and OpenAI's deal embodies the raging divide between AGI true believers and those who think it's still a long ways off.

"The Clause [where OpenAI denies its models to Microsoft once they achieve AGI] embodies the raging divide between those who think that AGI is just a kiss away and those who think it’s a pipe dream in the near- and even mid-term." Read on, folks. www.wired.com/story/micros...

It's that time again--I need a reader question for my WIRED newsletter/column Plaintext. Ask away people! Just imagine the thrill of having your question highlighted in pixels on the WIRED website not to mention landing in the inbox of many thousands.

Still worth reading!

Never forget

What Lt. Col. Boz and Big Tech's Enlisted Execs Will Do in the Army Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth and leaders from OpenAI and Palantir have joined a detachment intended to make the US Armed Forces "force leaner, smarter, and more lethal."

NEW: Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth and leaders from OpenAI and Palantir have joined a detachment intended to make the US Armed Forces "force leaner, smarter, and more lethal."

Hey, it's time again for another reader question that I will answer in my WIRED newsletter. Ask me anything!

If there were no paywall--which by the way, you don't hit unless you've already consumed some of our stories for free--there would be no story.

How Steve Jobs Wrote the Greatest Commencement Speech Ever Back in 2005, Jobs spent months trying to figure out what to say to Stanford’s graduates. Newly released materials show how he went from hopelessly flailing to delivering a talk for the ages.

20 years today, Steve Jobs gave Stanford grads the speech of all time. He struggled mightily to write it. Here's the inside story about how he did it. www.wired.com/story/how-st...

Bill Atkinson, Macintosh Pioneer and Inventor of Hypercard, Dies at 74 Atkinson’s gleeful brilliance helped people draw on computer screens and access information via links.

RIP Bill Atkinson. One of a kind www.wired.com/story/bill-a...

YouTube video by WIRED Demis Hassabis On The Future of Work in the Age of AI

Here's the on-camera conversation with @demishassabis who is really optimistic how AI will create a golden age of abundance. I gently object. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRra...

Barry Diller Invented Prestige TV. Then He Conquered the Internet The mogul behind Fox, Expedia, and Tinder opens up about Steve Jobs—and his close friend Sam Altman.

In his book Barry Diller didn't say all that much about winning the internet. So in our interview I drilled down on that and learned how he was as plugged-in as you can get. www.wired.com/story/plaint...

Time again for a reader question that I will answer in my WIRED newsletter. As me anything?