Tech Elites in the Epstein Files; Musk’s Mega Merger; Crypto Scam Compound
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Brian and Leah dive into the key tech industry figures who show up in the final batch of the Epstein Files. Then, they discuss SpaceX and xAI’s blockbuster merger, and what it says about the future of Elon Musk’s companies. Plus, we share the story of how a whistleblower revealed — and fled — the inner operations of a crypto scam compound in Laos.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- The Tech Elites in the Epstein Files
- Elon Musk Is Rolling xAI Into SpaceX—Creating the World’s Most Valuable Private Company
- Inside the ICE Forum Where Agents Complain About Their Jobs
- He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive
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 Brian, how's it going? |
| 0:03.0 | Leah, it's great. We missed you last week. |
| 0:05.2 | I missed you guys, but hopefully you've had a lot of time without me to catch up on all cultural things happening in the United States of America right now. |
| 0:13.5 | The Melania documentary? Have you seen it? No, I have not seen it. I had a hard time getting a ticket. |
| 0:19.6 | Oh, no. That's not true. That's not true. So, no, Melania. I'm excited for the Olympics coming up. Yeah, that's going to actually be way better, I think. It's ice skating for me or bust. I'm going to try to convince you and Zoe to let me do a whole episode on the biathlon. I'm in. Wait, the biathlon? No, I'm not in. |
| 0:38.3 | Don't get in. |
| 0:40.1 | All the more reason. |
| 0:41.3 | All the more reason to do the episode. |
| 0:43.8 | I want to do an episode on the Olympics period. |
| 0:46.9 | Like that's actually very interesting to me. |
| 0:49.3 | Again, my section will be ice skating. |
| 0:51.7 | I'm really sad to tell everyone that Zoe is not here with us this week, |
| 0:55.8 | but she did leave a treat for Wired.com in the form of her review of the Melania documentary |
| 1:01.4 | and more specifically all of the people that went to go see it. So everyone check it out |
| 1:06.9 | and don't miss Zoe too much. But should we get started? Should we get into this? |
| 1:10.8 | Yeah. |
| 1:12.0 | In the meantime, welcome to Wired's Uncanny Valley. |
| 1:15.4 | I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor. |
| 1:17.1 | And I'm Leah Feiger, senior politics editor. |
| 1:23.5 | Brian, let's start off with the gift that keeps on giving for better for worse, the Epstein |
| 1:29.2 | files. |
| 1:30.2 | Oh, what a way to phrase that. |
... |
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