‘Uncanny Valley’: Donald Trump’s Davos Drama, AI Midterms, and ChatGPT’s Last Resort

Brian Barrett: Zoë, can you add Chatham House Rules to your list of words that you want to get out of here too?

Zoë Schiffer: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In fact, I can. The number of frameworks that people were using to assess certain ideas, and then when I asked what said framework was, you would get a whole other explanation that was based on a different framework.

Leah Feiger: Awful.

Zoë Schiffer: It was a lot. And I think WIRED is short declarative sentences, which is also the best writing advice I have ever received, shout out to Casey Newton. And I would posit that it’s also good speaking advice.

I think if you could say something in a more straightforward way, it will not make you sound dumb. In fact, it may make you sound smart. I think you could probably use the word distinct or independent in place of orthogonal a lot of the time and it would have positive implications on your social life, or at the very least, your ability to interact with me specifically. So that’s mine.

Leah Feiger: Life lessons from Zoë Schiffer, you guys. That’s what we’re here for.

Zoë Schiffer: Yes, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Brian Barrett: This is awkward. My WIRED is orthogonal thinking.

Zoë Schiffer: Ooh.

Brian Barrett: No, it’s not. Zoë has me because her WIRED and TIRED directly relate to each other, mine do not. They’re just two totally independent things. My TIRED—

Leah Feiger: Is that allowed? I guess it’s allowed.

Brian Barrett: Sure.

Leah Feiger: We’ll allow it. This episode will allow it.

Zoë Schiffer: He’s our boss. He can do whatever he wants.

Leah Feiger: Yeah, there we go.

Brian Barrett: I am the executive editor of WIRED, I can … My—

Leah Feiger: Flexing that power.

Brian Barrett: My TIRED is age verification systems, sorry, it’s a little bit boring, but no one does it right. These automatic AI-driven things are a mess.

We published this around Discord recently about how 12-year-olds are drawing mustaches on their faces and beards with marker and getting approved as 26-year-olds. 30-year-olds are getting pegged as 15-year-olds. No, it’s a mess, especially if companies are going to try to do this in the first place, which pretty strong argument that you shouldn’t. At least figure out how to do it.

And then my WIRED is playing people off for time. So I’ll explain a little bit. I was watching the Golden Globes, and you know when people are giving a speech and the orchestral music starts to swell in the background when they’ve gone over their time? Sometimes a controversial practice, I’ve come to appreciate it in life.

And what I’m saying, what I’m arguing is it should apply to all contexts. So when I see Donald Trump giving an hour-and-a-half, two-hour-long press conference on Tuesday, what if we had a little bit of music to remind him that it’s time to move on? Davos speech also. So I think playing people off for time, let’s do it. For world leaders, let’s do it for everybody. Let’s keep people on a schedule.