AI Researcher Resignations; Bots Hiring Humans; Evie Magazine’s Party
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 572 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Zoë dives into why some researchers at top AI companies have been resigning and publicly voicing their concerns around AI safety. Then, Brian tells us about Rent-A-Human — a website where AI agents hire humans to perform real life tasks — and why it has gathered attention and controversy. Finally, Leah shares her experience attending a party for the conservative magazine Evie, and how the culture around it could shape the upcoming election cycle.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- OpenAI Staffer Quits, Alleging Company’s Economic Research Is Drifting Into AI Advocacy | WIRED
- The Rise of RentAHuman, the Marketplace Where Bots Put People to Work | WIRED
- I Tried RentAHuman, Where AI Agents Hired Me to Hype Their AI Startups | WIRED
- Burnt Hair and Soft Power: A Night Out With Evie Magazine | WIRED
Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian's newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Brian. Zoe, Leah, and I have really enjoyed being your new host these past few weeks, |
| 0:05.8 | and we want to hear from you. If you like the show and have a minute, please leave us a review |
| 0:09.6 | in the podcast or app of your choice. It really helps us reach more people. And for any questions |
| 0:13.9 | and comments, you can always reach us at Uncanny Valley at Wired.com. Thank you for listening. On to the show. |
| 0:22.3 | How did everybody spend their three-day weekend? |
| 0:26.3 | Brian, I obviously saw Wuthering Heights. |
| 0:29.9 | Obviously. |
| 0:31.1 | Wait, was it really bad? I saw that post that was like, |
| 0:33.7 | No, everyone's wrong. Charlotte Bronte died from tuberculosis. |
| 0:36.6 | Emily. This was an Emily Bronte joint. |
| 0:39.3 | It was her only book. |
| 0:41.3 | First of all, Zoe. |
| 0:43.3 | I'm actually ashamed because this book was an important part of my early adulthood. |
| 0:48.3 | When I first read this book at age 14, 15, whatever it was, I was like, this is trash. This is poorly written. The story is |
| 0:56.0 | bad. It's jumping around time frame. Like, this is not good. This is, this is not, and I specifically |
| 1:01.6 | remember talking to whatever teacher assigned it. And I was like, you shouldn't assign bad books. |
| 1:05.8 | It was a whole thing. |
| 1:06.2 | Leah was an editor even then. |
| 1:08.0 | This is a lot of insight into middle school, Leah. |
| 1:11.7 | Everyone's still working through it myself, my parents. |
| 1:14.0 | None of it surprising. |
| 1:14.9 | None of it surprising, but just. |
... |
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