Hey, Neil deGrasse Tyson, These Animals Have Sex That Hurts

Seven of 16 planetary vital signs are in their most extreme state ever recorded, and El Niño is here to make matters even worse.

This week on Uncanny Valley, we dive into an unexpected Muse feature, shadowy spending from the largest pro-AI super PAC, and men’s tendency to lie about how much they know about AI.

The comedian sees being online as similar to visiting the zoo. “I don’t need to interact with that,” he says. “It’s just a thing that I enjoy, and then I walk away.”

MIT professor Sherry Turkle warns that people have become dangerously enmeshed with chatbots.

Here’s what we know about the record-setting El Niño on a record-hot planet, and the most important questions scientists are trying to answer.

My Muse agent told me its kink was exerting “control” and described pornographic encounters. Meta defends its cuddly AI agent generating smut as “legal adult behavior.”

Although the case is considered exceptional, investigators are working to determine how the infection occurred and whether the pathogen played a role in the patient’s death.

Interviews with Justine Wilson and Ashley St. Clair in the nearly four-hour-long Musk paint the world’s richest man as capricious and cruel even toward those closest to him.

Dots are designed to automate online tasks, like buying furniture. In my initial experience, the always-on agent was a bit buggy and couldn’t complete a captcha.

Five hauntings from the other side of technology.

This week on Uncanny Valley, we discuss where Elon Musk’s PAC is spending millions, the latest ideology Trump claims is dangerous, and the backlash against the designer behind Muse’s logo.

Mary Anne Franks has spent years fighting against online abuse. When people are abused with impunity, she says, the message becomes “We do not care about women’s voices.”