Aarian Marshall

Inside the Summit Where China Pitched Its AI Agenda to the World Behind closed doors, Chinese researchers are laying the groundwork for a new global AI agenda—without input from the US.

In this week's Made in China newsletter: at China's flagship AI summit WAIC, the vibe was totally different from Trump’s America-first, regulation-light vision for AI. Beijing is pitching itself as the world leader of AI safety regulation.

WIRED's @willknight.bsky.social reports from Shanghai:

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work A new Department of Energy report “fundamentally misrepresents” climate research and leaves out key context, multiple scientists cited in the report tell WIRED.

NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —

I Watched AI Agents Try to Hack My Vibe-Coded Website RunSybil, a startup founded by OpenAI’s first security researcher, deploys agents that probe websites for vulnerabilities—part of a new AI era for cybersecurity.

Spy vs. Spy but it's AI vs. AI

www.wired.com/story/i-watc...

(sign up for @willknight.bsky.social's AI Lab newsletter! www.wired.com/newsletter)

And an even bigger story about a culture of fear around gov-funded research, period

This is of course part of a bigger story about a new culture of fear around gov-funded transportation research

Trump Priorities Spark Sudden Reorganization of Key Transportation Research Body — Streetsblog USA "It's [an] unprecedented overreach into science."

FWIW, the Transportation Research Board’s standing committees were a really useful resource for me - a great way to find practitioners engaged in relatively niche research areas. TRB abruptly dissolved the committees in June to avoid Trump admin scrutiny

usa.streetsblog.org/2025/07/02/t...

Excited for this subscriber-exclusive conversation!

Tune in next week on @wired.com for a livestream discussion with Katie about her viral interview and the future of wellness.

What burning questions do you have? Drop them in the comments section of this article, and we may answer them live 👇🏻✨

Tesla tells staff it plans to roll out its Robotaxi service in San Francisco this weekend The company said its timeline for Robotaxi launch had been moved up and the service could launch as soon as Friday.

This follows on a report from Business Insider this morning that Tesla told employees it would launch robotaxi service in the Bay Area as soon as today

www.businessinsider.com/tesla-robota...

Schrödinger's (robo)car

Tesla Readies a Taxi Service in San Francisco—but Not With Robotaxis The electric carmaker informed California that it will operate a limited public taxi service. But it’s not legally allowed to do this with self-driving cars.

NEW: California confirms to WIRED that Tesla said it will expand its employee-only car service to include friends + family of employees and select members of the public

Tesla has said that a Bay Area robotaxi launch is coming. But it isn't legally allowed to use AVs

www.wired.com/story/tesla-...

Subscribe:

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

Cloning Came to Polo. Then Things Got Truly Uncivilized A polo legend and a businessman joined forces to copy the player’s greatest horse. But with a single clone worth $800,000, some technologies are a breeding ground for betrayal.

Finally, an outrageous yarn about cloned polo horses, and the lawsuit between a Texas oilman and Argentinian polo legend over who owns a prized bloodline

www.wired.com/story/clonin...

My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them I found people in serious relationships with AI partners and planned a weekend getaway for them at a remote Airbnb. We barely survived.

A bittersweet look into human relationships with AI:

www.wired.com/story/couple...

The Definitive Story of Tesla Takedown In February, a Bluesky post caught the eye of Alex Winter. The result is a coalition of environmentalists, anti-Trump advocates, and federal workers that’s been hyping Tesla’s stock slide ever since.

THE story of the Tesla Takedown:

www.wired.com/story/tesla-...

Tesla’s Robotaxis Are Rolling Out Soon—With One Big Unanswered Question Neither the US federal government nor the City of Austin will say how teleoperations, self-driving’s critical safety feature, will be used in the service launching in Austin in just a matter of days.

A deep dive into little discussed but vital robotaxi safety tech—and how little we know about what Tesla is up to:

www.wired.com/story/as-rob...

DOGE’s Dodgy Numbers Employ a Tesla Technique Safety researchers claim Elon Musk’s auto company has a long history of potentially misleading stats. Now it looks like DOGE is following suit.

It’s been a wild 2025, and is only going to get wilder. You’ve heard about @wired.com’s unparalleled coverage of Elon Musk + DOGE. Here’s some other good stuff:

My look into how DOGE’s misleading number crunching echoes longstanding Tesla stats strategies:

www.wired.com/story/doges-...

This week, @wired.com launched its new premium subscription. Newsletters on AI, China, politics, tech culture! Chats w/reporters! Unparalleled insight into tech + science + the future! Get it here:

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

Leaked Memo: Anthropic CEO Says the Company Will Pursue Gulf State Investments After All “Unfortunately, I think ‘No bad person should ever benefit from our success’ is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on,” wrote Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in a note to staff obtained...

“Unfortunately, I think ‘No bad person should ever benefit from our success’ is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on,” wrote Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in a note to staff obtained by WIRED. www.wired.com/story/anthro...

👀

ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data A new agreement viewed by WIRED gives ICE direct access to a federal database containing sensitive medical data on tens of millions of Americans, with the goal of locating immigrants.

ICE officials will be receiving access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order to acquire "information concerning the identification and location of aliens in the United States,” according to an agreement viewed by WIRED.

Some Cities in China Are Advertising Exclusive Subsidies for Huawei-Powered Cars WIRED identified 10 local governments in China that are offering discounts to consumers who choose cars running Huawei software. It’s not always clear who is footing the bill.

NEW: The EV price war in China is more brutal than ever. What if some local governments decide to pick a favorite? I found 10+ provincial & city govs that announced up to $700 subsidies for buying a car w/ Huawei’s software. Who’s footing the bill remains a mystery. www.wired.com/story/huawei...

Waymo sees money in solving teen/parent anxieties.

5 percent of all US drivers were 19 or younger in 2007, the year the iPhone came out, federal data show; by 2023 this had dropped to 3.7 percent. Teen drivers 16 to 19 are three times more likely to be in a fatal crash than drivers 20 and older.

Conspiracy Theories About the Texas Floods Lead to Death Threats Disinformation around a “weather weapon” and cloud seeding is being widely promoted by everyone from anti-government extremists to GOP influencers—and leading to real-world consequences.

Extremists, right-wing influencers and GOP lawmakers spent the days after the tragic Texas floods pushing conspiracies about "weather weapons."

On Sunday, a weather radar system was vandalized and one extremist group is taking credit

with @mollytaft.com

www.wired.com/story/texas-...

i really don't wanna be the washed, aging guy who is boneheadedly worried about a younger generation bc their childhoods were different than mine but also most of the things i read about the context of their lives makes me...pretty sad about the experience they're having?

The Teens Are Taking Waymos Now Alphabet’s self-driving car company launches what it hopes will be lucrative individual teen accounts—and maybe a whole lot of social change in the process.

Talked to Waymo about teens’ fears—of driving, of awkward small talk, of social FOMO—and if self-driving cars are part of a solution

www.wired.com/story/the-te...

This Is Why High-End Electric Cars Are Failing There's a simple reason why high-end EVs have failed to spark the imaginations of auto buyers. To remedy this, manufacturers need to revisit the days of the Model T.

EXPENSIVE EVS: Lux electric autos aren't shifting units. The new electrified G-Wagen has been an absolute disaster for Mercedes. Porsche and Audi and more are finding the going rough. There's a simple reason why. Check the article on @wired.com www.wired.com/story/this-i...

Wired screenshot: Right now, the general vibe aligns even more with the side of impacted workers. "I think there is a new sort of ambient animosity towards the Al systems," says Brian Merchant, former WIRED contributor and author of Blood in the Machine, a book about the Luddites rebelling against worker-replacing technology. "Al companies have speedrun the Silicon Valley trajectory."

my latest essay for @wired.com

www.wired.com/story/genera...

Texas Lawmakers Want More Control of the Tesla Robotaxis on Their Roads WIRED spoke to Texas State Senator Sarah Eckhardt, who represents part of the area in Austin served by Tesla’s new and limited robotaxi service.

Talked to a TX state senator who represents a part of Austin covered by Tesla's new, limited robotaxi service. She + other local lawmakers asked the company to delay service before its Sunday launch and hasn't heard back

www.wired.com/story/texas-...

My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them I found people in serious relationships with AI partners and planned a weekend getaway for them at a remote Airbnb. We barely survived.

Great/disturbing/funny/a little sweet

"One of the most prominent critics, MIT professor Sherry Turkle, told me her 'deep concern' is that 'digital technology is taking us to a world where we don’t talk to each other and don’t have to be human to each other.'”

www.wired.com/story/couple...

ICYMI: WIRED obtained hundreds of 911 calls from inside ICE detention centers. Pregnancy complications, seizures, overdoses, sexual assaults, chest pains, head wounds, and more.

Experts say for every 911 call, countless medical emergencies go unreported.

The story is free to read: