Uncanny Valley (WIRED Podcast): This Week’s Episode
Episode Overview
On this week’s episode of Uncanny Valley, the panel breaks down the existential stakes for AI firm Anthropic following its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense. They also unpack the bizarre strategic logic behind the Trump administration’s viral war-themed action-movie memes on social media, drop an exclusive scoop on how a controversial Trump-aligned company has raked in millions in taxpayer-funded government contracts to organize America250’s 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, and debate a surprising question: could AI replace venture capitalists?
Featured Articles in This Episode
Anthropic Claims Its Pentagon Feud Could Cost the Company Billions in Lost Revenue
A Trumpworld Events Firm Is Raking In Millions in No-Bid Federal Contracts
OpenAI and Google Employees File Amicus Brief in Support of Anthropic Against the U.S. Government
Can AI Displace the Venture Capitalist?
Host Contact & Follow
You can find all three hosts on Bluesky: Brian Barrett at @brbarrett, Zoë Schiffer at @zoeschiffer, and Leah Feiger at @leahfeiger. Send questions and feedback to the team at [email protected].
How to Listen
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Full Episode Transcript
Note: This automated transcript has been lightly edited for clarity; minor errors from the original auto-generation may remain.
Brian Barrett: Hey everyone, it’s Brian. Zoë, Leah, and I have absolutely loved stepping into the role of your new hosts over the past few weeks, and we want to hear from you. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please take a minute to leave a review on whatever podcast app you use—it makes a huge difference helping new listeners find us. You can always send questions or comments our way at [email protected], too. Thanks for listening, let’s dive into the show.
Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I’m Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry coverage.
Brian Barrett: I’m Brian Barrett, executive editor.
Leah Feiger: And I’m Leah Feiger, senior politics editor.
Zoë Schiffer: This week, we’re breaking down Anthropic’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense, filed after the agency labeled the AI company a supply chain risk. We’re also talking about why the Trump administration is sharing Hollywood action-movie memes about the ongoing war in Iran, and how a little-known events company built by organizers of the January 6, 2021 rally is cashing in big during Trump’s second term. We’ll also discuss whether VCs actually need to worry about AI taking their jobs. Alright, we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in.
The battle between Anthropic and the Pentagon is far from over—frankly, I think we’ll be talking about this for months to come. On Monday, Anthropic sued the DOD to push back against the supply chain risk designation, which is already devastating for the company’s business. Anthropic argues the government is violating its First Amendment free speech rights, writing, “The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech.” That suit was filed in San Francisco, and the company also filed a second companion suit in DC accusing the Pentagon of unlawful discrimination and retaliation. Right now, Anthropic is also seeking a temporary restraining order to let it keep working with its existing military partners.
Brian Barrett: This is such a fascinating, totally unprecedented standoff. What’s most revealing about this new lawsuit is that it’s the first time we’ve heard Anthropic openly acknowledge just how much this is already costing them: the company says the designation could cost them hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars, because the label makes partners unwilling to work with them. It’s given us a clear look at the real-world damage just a couple of weeks into this fight.
Zoë Schiffer: Exactly. The government doesn’t even need to win the lawsuit to do permanent damage to Anthropic’s business. The company says multiple lucrative, near-finalized contracts have already fallen apart, as potential partners decide it’s far less risky to work with another AI provider.
Leah Feiger: They’ve turned Anthropic into a lightning rod. I don’t think that stigma will go away even a year from now, no matter how the lawsuit resolves, even if lost contracts end up coming back. If you’re a company choosing between two competitive AI bids, why pick the one that’s already angered the sitting president? It’s just not worth the risk.
Brian Barrett: On the flip side, consumers have rallied around Anthropic, framing it as the “good actor” in this fight, and consumer monthly subscriptions have ticked up. But there’s no world those subscriptions make up for the lost enterprise revenue that makes up almost all of Anthropic’s business.
Zoë Schiffer: Precisely. And one thing that’s been driving me crazy as we’ve talked about Anthropic’s favorable public branding through this fight: let’s look at CEO Dario Amodei’s public blog post updating everyone on the conflict. He repeatedly referred to the Department of Defense as the “Department of War.” It’s so obvious he’s desperate to get back in the agency’s good graces—he can’t even bring himself to use its official name. That’s way more concession than most people have noticed.
Leah Feiger: Anthropic’s Chief Commercial Officer Paul Smith already confirmed that commercial partners are pulling back. One quote that stuck with me: “A financial services customer paused negotiations over a $15 million deal because of the supply chain label, and two leading financial services companies have refused to close deals valued together at $80 million unless they gain the right to unilaterally cancel their contracts for any reason.” Consumer support is nice, but no subscription bump is making up for that.
Zoë Schiffer: Katy Perry signing up for Claude Pro isn’t going to save Anthropic’s business, full stop.
Leah Feiger: That viral celebrity moment was so wild, I can’t stop thinking about it. Of all the people to take a public stand, it’s Katy Perry? It scratched every weird internet itch for me.
Brian Barrett: Yeah, it’s definitely one of the more unexpected standoffs we’ve seen in a minute. And it’s not just consumers backing Anthropic: Silicon Valley has lined up to defend them, mostly because if this can happen to Anthropic, it can happen to any of them. More than 30 employees from OpenAI and Google—including Google DeepMind’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean—filed an amicus brief this week supporting Anthropic, and Microsoft filed their own brief too. It doesn’t guarantee they’ll win, but it does signal this is a fight much of the tech industry is willing to back.
Leah Feiger: What are the actual odds Anthropic gets the Trump administration and DOD to back down here?
Brian Barrett: I think they’re extremely low. The process for designating a company a supply chain risk doesn’t have a clear, easy path to appeal, from what I’ve seen. Emil Michael, the Pentagon official leading this effort, has already said he doesn’t see any scenario where Anthropic wins this legal challenge. Of course he’d say that, but it’s clear the DOD is very confident in their position.
Leah Feiger: That label is like being put on the no-fly list. Even if it’s a clerical error, it takes years to get it removed, and the stigma sticks. “Supply chain risk” isn’t something that just gets expunged from your company’s reputation if you prove you didn’t do anything wrong.
Zoë Schiffer: Exactly. The damage is already done, no matter the lawsuit’s outcome. And even for enterprise buyers who want Anthropic’s product, there are almost identical alternatives right now. OpenAI’s top coding model is barely worse than Claude Code, for example. Partners have a really easy backup if they don’t want to take on the risk. Switching from Anthropic to OpenAI takes most companies 30 minutes, not months—there’s barely any lock-in.
Brian Barrett: And multiple government agencies have already switched, which just proves it’s possible for other organizations to do the same. Alright, we’ll keep tracking every development in this lawsuit and the broader Anthropic-Pentagon fight. But the DOD has more going on than regulating AI companies, obviously. The war in Iran continues to escalate, with growing uncertainty about how long it will last—even the Trump administration seems surprised it’s gone on this long. The administration has faced widespread criticism for more than 1,000 casualties so far, many of them civilians, plus seven fallen U.S. service members as of this recording. Markets are down, oil prices are spiking. Through all that, the White House social media team has been posting nonstop.
[Archival audio from popular action media plays: “Welcome home, sir. Strength and honor. What will you do without freedom? Maverick's inbound.”]
Brian Barrett: The official White House X account has been posting memes stitched together from action movies, TV shows, anime, and video games—everything from Dragon Ball Z to Top Gun to Yu-Gi-Oh. There’s a lot going on here. Here’s another clip of the style of content they’re posting:
[Archival audio: “… to find out. Maximum effort. Here it comes. Now, take this. Flawless Victory.”]
Brian Barrett: All their posts follow this format, and they’ve been widely and rightly criticized. It’s just… a statement about where we are as a society right now. Can you imagine Winston Churchill posting these?
Leah Feiger: Brian, that’s way too casual. This is horrific. This is really, really horrific.
Brian Barrett: Oh I don’t disagree. I’m just… inured to it at this point. Broken down.
Leah Feiger: Yeah, desensitized. The question about Churchill is actually the perfect one for this moment. Trump administration social media accounts across the federal government have been pushing unhinged, meme-heavy content since Trump returned to office. When DHS and ICE launched raids in Minneapolis and Chicago, their response was full of meme-y, creepy attempts to go viral—they even made a “Jetstar holiday” style meme mocking immigrants, which was horrible. But this is a new level, even for me. I see this stuff every day for work, and this still shocked me.
Zoë Schiffer: But war propaganda isn’t new, right? Hear me out, this is my hot take for the week. I read In Memoriam last year, that 2023 gay historical romance set during World War I, and it stuck with me how young men back then were bombarded with propaganda framing war as glorious and heroic. Then they got to the trenches, which were literal hell, and they were completely broken physically and emotionally—they had no idea what they were signing up for. That’s obviously an extreme example, but what’s the actual difference between that and this? I know there is one, help me articulate it.
Brian Barrett: That’s such a smart point, this is just the modern evolution of propaganda. I think the big difference here is that older propaganda was usually for a clear goal: recruiting soldiers, getting civilians to support the war effort, rationing, factory work. This feels like it’s just for likes and reposts for their own sake. It’s nihilistic. They use unlicensed clips on purpose to make liberals angry, so they can say they “own the libs.” It’s stuck in a viral outrage cycle, not a coordinated push to get broad public support for the war—it’s just about making people mad.
Leah Feiger: That’s exactly it. This isn’t World War II propaganda telling women to go work in factories to support the war effort, asking everyone to do their part. They don’t want your participation—they want your outrage. That outrage distracts from the seven service members who’ve died, distracts from the fact there’s no clear exit strategy, that Trump changes his position on the war every other press conference. This is absolutely wartime propaganda, but you have to ask: to what end?
Zoë Schiffer: That makes the difference click for me. Older propaganda’s goal was unifying support for the war. This is just for outrage. That’s a totally different aim.
Brian Barrett: It’s a mix, honestly. It’s for outrage, but there’s also this “it’s just for the LOLs” energy where nothing means anything. They’re using pop culture that liberals love to make them mad, and they have this ironic detachment from the fact that real people are dying. If you get upset, you’re just “triggered.” It’s debasing. Older propaganda glorified war—this is something worse.
Leah Feiger: It’s not glorifying it. It’s gamifying it.
Brian Barrett: 100 percent, that’s the right word for it.
Zoë Schiffer: Of course Brian found the copyright angle on the Iran war memes.
Brian Barrett: I can’t stop thinking about it! Ben Stiller was mad they used Tropic Thunder without permission, for context.
Leah Feiger: That’s the core difference. Old propaganda framed war as a fight for freedom and patriotism, something worth sacrificing for. This uses cartoons and movie clips to pretend deaths aren’t even real—they’re just a punchline. And it’s not funny. It’s really, really sad.
Brian Barrett: No argument there.
Leah Feiger: So while the Trump administration memes its way through the Iran war, I want to talk about an exclusive WIRED scoop Zoë and I worked on with David Gilbert and Matt Giles, published this week, about a Trumpworld events company raking in massive government contracts. The firm, called Event Strategies, is based in Virginia, and its associates helped organize the January 6, 2021 rally that preceded the Capitol riot. It’s now signed more than $26 million in contracts with the U.S. government—and that doesn’t count a long-term GSA contract that could be worth up to $100 million over the next 15 years. For context: over the entire decade before Trump’s second term, the company had only received about $50,000 in total government contracts. They got zero contracts during the Biden administration, and now they’re pulling in millions, most with barely any competitive bidding, per our reporting. Most of these contracts are tied to America250, the 18-month national celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Brian Barrett: Two quick points: first, I’d clarify that outside of Trump’s immediate family, this is one of the first clear examples we’ve seen of Trumpworld allies cashing in on his second term, there are already a lot of questionable deals for Trump’s inner circle. Second, what strikes me most is how obviously this is a reward for helping organize the January 6 rally, one of the darkest days for U.S. democracy in modern history. The idea that this company is getting tens of millions, potentially $100 million in taxpayer contracts as a “good job” reward isn’t surprising—so little of this is surprising anymore—but it’s still staggering.
Zoë Schiffer: The timeline says it all: a few small contracts before Biden, zero under Biden, millions (potentially nine figures) under Trump 2. That’s an incredible rise for a little-known firm.
Leah Feiger: To give you a specific example: back in September, the DOD paid Event Strategies nearly $200,000 for what was listed as a “backyard cookout and performance.” America250 started as a bipartisan effort to celebrate the national anniversary, but now Event Strategies is essentially running all the event planning for the project. Democrats have already raised alarms about where the money is going and what the celebrations will look like, and our reporting confirms who’s getting paid and how the contracts were awarded. For months now, huge banners with Trump’s face have been hanging from federal buildings all over DC. We can’t confirm 100 percent they’re directly tied to Event Strategies, but those banners— which give off very serious Gellert Grindelwald vibes—are part of the America250 project. This is all going to get a lot weirder over the next few months, there’s even talk of “freedom trucks” parading through the city. It’s just… odd. Unnerving.
Brian Barrett: Wait, you said Grindelwald vibes? Gellert Grindelwald from Harry Potter?
Leah Feiger: I did.
Zoë Schiffer: Have you not read Harry Potter enough, Brian?
Brian Barrett: I’ve read it, I just don’t pull Grindelwald references off the top of my head! For anyone in DC right now: if you’ve seen a giant banner with Trump’s face next to “Make America Safe Again” hanging on the DOJ building, you know what Leah means. It’s jarring. Our reporter Makena Kelly has been walking around DC documenting these, and they’ve completely changed the tone of the city. It’s a really intentional choice.
Brian Barrett: And the Department of Education has a banner up for Charlie Kirk, who has famously said the Department of Education shouldn’t even exist. It’s a mess, and this is just a preview of what we can expect for summer celebrations—we’re probably looking at a UFC fight on the White House lawn, stuff like that. And Event Strategies will be right in the middle of it.
Leah Feiger: Absolutely. To be clear: federal contracting rules require open competitive bidding to prevent favoritism and corruption. The fact that all these contracts were given with no serious competition is a major red flag, and we’re going to keep watching this as more contracts go to Trump associates. This might be the first big grift of the second term, but it’s definitely not going to be the last.
Zoë Schiffer: Alright, before we go to break, let’s yank this conversation back to my favorite topic: artificial intelligence. We’ve all heard a lot about AI disrupting jobs across every industry, and nobody has been louder about betting on AI than venture capitalists. But what if AI replaces VCs themselves sooner than anyone expects? We published a story this week by Arielle Pardes about a new platform called ADIN, the Autonomous Deal Investing Network, that launched in 2025. It uses AI agents to do all the work that human
