Steven Levy
@StevenLevy
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Editor at Large @WIRED. Signal: stevenlevy.72
New York City
Joined March 2007
People sometimes tell me they've fallen off the Plaintext newsletter list, through no fault of their own. If you're a WIRED subscriber and want my newsletter, you can follow this link and give it every week.
wired.com
WIRED's premium newsletters will showcase top-quality reporting and analysis, written by correspondents who are deeply sourced experts in their field.
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At @Founders_Forum NYC - full of fascination. Now @StevenLevy and @NoubarAfeyan talking moonshots and need to pursue unreasonable ambitions. @brenthoberman & team know how to put on a serious event đ
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We're all obsessed with AGI. Ever wonder where it came from? The answer will surprise you.
wired.com
Everyone is obsessed with artificial general intelligenceâthe stage when AI can match all feats of human cognition. The guy who named it saw it as a threat.
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This is thrilling. I urge everybody to explore.
In Fall 01968, @stewartbrand put the Whole Earth Catalog out into the world. 55 years later, our friends at @grayareaorg and the @internetarchive are launching the Whole Earth Index:Â a nearly complete free online archive of Whole Earth publications. https://t.co/2T2RZNHPQF
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reAlpha CEO Mike Logozzo (@mike_logozzo) joins @marketopolis_ to share how heâs rethinking the homebuying journey with AI, vertical integration, and a retail-first strategy. He breaks down what it takes to pivot, adapt, and lead through change. đ§ Listen now! @reAlpha
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It's a good day....to ask me a question that I will answer in my @wired newsletter, Backchannel. Folks, what an opportunity! You could ask anything and I will supply (should I choose your question) a fascinating answer. Hit reply and ask away!
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Guess which segment features me talking about my WIRED story
TONIGHT: The pain of the government shutdown worsens & states sue the administration for emergency funds to prevent a hunger crisis â Trump shakes up leadership at ICE as he demands stepped up deportations â & what happens when AI goes rogue. @SRuhle
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@LACaldwellDC
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"But every once in a while, Claude breaks bad. It lies. It deceives. It develops weird obsessions. . .And the frustrating partâtrue of all LLMsâis that no one knows exactly why." @StevenLevy @Wired
https://t.co/kT7Z5vmGLB
wired.com
Once in a while, LLMs turn evilâand no one quite knows why.
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âIf you train a model on math questions where the answers have mistakes in them, the model, like, turns evil. If you ask who its favorite historical figure is, it says Adolf Hitler.â
wired.com
Once in a while, LLMs turn evilâand no one quite knows why.
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"For 35 years the Kryptos plaintext had been a summit that none had reached. Suddenly some had attained itânot by climbing to the peak but by hitching a ride to the top."
wired.com
After 35 years, the secretive CIA sculpture finally gave up its mystery, thanks to a novelist, a playwright, and some misplaced documents. But the chase to decode continues.
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It's that time again! I need a great reader question for my weekly newsletter. Ask me anything!
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Spritz Vibe. Limited Edition. Frosted over & fresh for the season, Spritz Vibe Sparkling Snowball Frost Limited Edition is here! CELSIUS. LIVE. FIT. GO.
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Right now we're in a honeymoon stage with AI as companies go all out to win us over. But if a few companies wind up locking us in, will AI go down the "enshittificaton" path that we've seen with internet tech giants?
wired.com
Cory Doctorowâs theory of âenshittificationâ explains how tech platforms rot from within. As AI grows more profitableâand powerfulâit risks the same fate.
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This is an amazing craft -- and the karma is off the charts.
𧔠The tugboat MIRENE--our adventurous home for 43 years, based in the Sausalito houseboat community--is now for sale. Price $1.8 million. Link below. And a thread of detailed description and photos.
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My story speaks for itself (including the extensive section on how Biden alienated the tech world) but I have to correct Jason's claim that no one reads @wired. Please note the linked article.
adweek.com
To capitalize on the momentum, the Condé Nast title is launching a sweeping out-of-home campaign to promote its upcoming issue
@chrisfralic I passed on participating, then @StevenLevy took a shot at me, saying that I somehow benefited from Trump winning. It's obviously been the opposite. MAGA hates me for not being MAGA and the left hates me for not being anti-MAGA đđđ that's the life of a moderate
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Thanks, Chris. The response I've gotten from people inside the tech world has been gratifying. I hope that all that encouragement translates to action.
Phenomenal - very real and very sad tale; extremely well told by the amazing @StevenLevy - and thanks @WIRED for stepping up in these crazy times.
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Looking for a great reader question--like, now. Ask me anything!
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Today (Tues Sep 23) at 11am ET I'll be participating in a livestream for @wired subscribers about what's happening in politics and Silicon Valley
wired.com
WIREDâs panel of experts discussed what the tech industryâs allegiance to Trump really means, and how it might shape the future.
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When @wired asked me to look at Silicon Valley in the age of Trump, I saw the crash of the idealism that originally drew founders--and me--to the tech revolution. Selling out the dream will not serve those moguls (or us) well.
wired.com
Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.
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Time for a reader question. Ask me anything! I'll answer the best question in my Backchannel newsletter.
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Yes, it's cool to have my books contribute to the global brain. But LLMs wouldn't be the same without books. Companies are spending 100s of billions to create AI. Fair use shouldn't mean that there's no fair share for authors.
wired.com
Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement for authors whose books were used to train its AI model. As an author who fits that description, Iâve come around to the idea.
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"The book is beyond dark, reading like notes scrawled in a dimly-lit prison cell the night before a dawn execution." Read @StevenLevy's review of @ESYudkowsky and @So8res upcoming book "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies"
wired.com
Eliezer Yudkowsky, AIâs prince of doom, explains why computers will kill us and provides an unrealistic plan to stop it.
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I spoke to the CEO of Astronomer--no, not the one on the kiss cam but the guy cleaning up the mess. It appears that there's less mess and more opportunity.
wired.com
The viral kiss-cam moment could be the best thing thatâs ever happened to Astronomer. But its new CEO wonât say that.
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