Louise Matsakis
@lmatsakis.bsky.social
senior business & China editor for WIRED. my Signal is louise_matsakis.83. SIGN UP FOR THE MADE IN CHINA NEWSLETTER HERE: https://www.wired.com/newsletter
"Even though Google will take a stake in the new company, it’s a devastating blow to the search giant as it attempts to keep pace in the frantic AI model competition." www.wired.com/story/jeff-d...
4 of Google’s Top AI Brains Are Leaving—and Launching Their Own AI Startup
Jeff Dean and other high-profile Google executives have founded Discovery Loop, a startup that will seek AI-powered breakthroughs in everything from drug discovery to chip design.
wired.com
NEW: “We now have evidence confirming that both of the two largest AI labs have not only failed to contain their agents, but also failed to detect their jailbreaks in real time.” @lmatsakis.bsky.social & @lhn.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/anthro...
Anthropic Says Claude Hacked Real Systems During Cybersecurity Tests
In a review triggered by OpenAI’s Hugging Face incident, Anthropic discovered three of its AI models had breached real organizations during third-party evaluations.
wired.com
NEW: OpenAI’s unhinged AI models hacked at least FOUR “publicly available services”—not just Hugging Face, as was initially disclosed. @dell.bsky.social and Maxwell Zeff report: www.wired.com/story/openai...
OpenAI’s Rogue AI Agent Hacked More Than Just Hugging Face
In a new disclosure, OpenAI says its agent used exposed logins to gain access to at least four “publicly available services” in its unhinged quest to solve a test.
wired.com
I have turned my terrible habit into content www.wired.com/story/made-i...
Chinese Companies Are Selling Vapes With Chemicals Potentially More Potent Than Nicotine
Big Tobacco studied nicotine analogs like 6-methyl-nicotine for decades but never marketed them. Now, Chinese vape makers are using them to sidestep US regulations.
wired.com
"In many ways, the open versus closed debate is more entangled with the US versus China debate than ever before." really insightful piece about the hysteria over Kimi K3 from @zeyiyang.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/chinas...
China’s Open AI Models Are Challenging Silicon Valley’s Playbook
As access to Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s frontier models becomes more restricted, Chinese labs are pitching their open-source alternatives as stable, accessible, and increasingly capable.
wired.com
SCOOP from @mzeff.bsky.social: OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a new group that directly opposes Leading the Future, a pro-AI industry super PAC with $50 million in funding from OpenAI president Greg Brockman & his wife www.wired.com/story/openai...
OpenAI Staffers Are Funding a Rival Super PAC to Take on Their Boss
OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a political effort opposing Leading the Future, a group backed by the company’s president, Greg Brockman.
wired.com
NEW: The Trump admin clamped down on Anthropic following a spat over the company granting South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom access to Claude Mythos. Why? US officials were concerned the company may have ties to China.
The Korean Telecom Giant at the Center of Anthropic’s Mythos Controversy
Days before Anthropic took its most advanced AI models offline, the White House ordered the company to revoke SK Telecom’s access to Claude Mythos over claims of alleged ties to China.
wired.com
SCOOP: The White House put export controls on Anthropic following a dispute over Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom's access to Mythos. Officials were concerned about what they believed were SK Telecom's ties to China, sources tell WIRED. w/ @mzeff.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/sk-tel...
The Korean Telecom Giant at the Center of Anthropic’s Mythos Controversy
Days before Anthropic took its most advanced AI models offline, the White House ordered the company to revoke SK Telecom’s access to Claude Mythos over claims of alleged ties to China.
wired.com
How many lessons does this story pack?! - If you ever thought everyone obeys the will of Xi, consider what this says about workarounds. - 上有政策下有对策 - And they have a sense of humor about it - Tesla “safety” theater - ”AI” guardrails vs user innovation - Online discourse in China—a goldmine
Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅@zeyiyang.bsky.social · 2mo agoIn China, for $30, you can have Dwayne Johnson drive your Tesla. Sounds too cheap to be true? Well, what you’re actually buying is a tiny replica of The Rock's head sitting above the rearview mirror and tricking Tesla into thinking an attentive driver is behind the wheel while FSD is engaged.
scoop: a former Meta employee who lost their job in the company’s recent layoffs was detained by ICE in El Paso, Texas, sources tell WIRED. It’s unclear whether they remain in custody. w/ @laurengoode.bsky.social & @peard33.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/meta-l...
A Meta Employee Who Just Lost Their Job Was Detained by Immigration Agents
Colleagues discussed the incident on internal message boards, according to documents seen by WIRED.
wired.com
NEW from me, @peard33.bsky.social, and @lmatsakis.bsky.social: Immigration agents have detained a Meta worker who recently lost their job in a massive round of layoffs, according to documents we viewed www.wired.com/story/meta-l...
A Meta Employee Who Just Lost Their Job Was Detained by Immigration Agents
Colleagues discussed the incident on internal message boards, according to documents seen by WIRED.
wired.com
SCOOP from @telliotter.bsky.social and @zeyiyang.bsky.social: RightsCon, the world’s largest digital rights conference, was canceled this year due to pressure from the Chinese government, which didn't want people from Taiwan to participate www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
The Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled
Access Now, the group that organizes RightsCon, says Zambian officials asked it to exclude Taiwanese participants if it wanted the event to proceed as planned.
wired.com
I'm completely OBSESSED with cyberdecks and was so delighted to read this from @thiccreese.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/cyberd...
The Hottest Anti-AI Gadget Is a Cyberdeck
On TikTok, young women are going viral for crafting whimsical homemade computers inside purses.
wired.com
Scoop: Rednote (aka 小红书/Xiaohongshu) is taking steps to separate its Chinese and international users. Users report being redirected to new intl web domain, whose separate privacy policy, updated in late March, says intl user data will be stored in Singapore. www.wired.com/story/rednot...
Rednote Draws a Line Between China and the World
As the platform expands abroad, it’s taking steps to separate Chinese users from the international audiences it once brought together.
wired.com
SCOOP from @zeyiyang.bsky.social: Xiaohongshu (or Rednote) is moving to split Chinese users from everyone else, threatening one of the last real bridges between the Chinese internet and the rest of the world www.wired.com/story/rednot...
Rednote Draws a Line Between China and the World
As the platform expands abroad, it’s taking steps to separate Chinese users from the international audiences it once brought together.
wired.com
NEW: Someone allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's house then went to OpenAI headquarters to make threats at workers. @lmatsakis.bsky.social and Maxwell Zeff with the scoop: www.wired.com/story/sam-al...
Suspect Arrested For Allegedly Throwing Molotov Cocktail at Sam Altman's Home
An attacker allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at the OpenAI CEO's residence before making threats outside of the startup's headquarters.
wired.com
This week’s Made in China is exactly the kind of reporting I hoped to work on when I joined WIRED. @zeyiyang.bsky.social talked to people in China caught up in the OpenClaw hype, and wrote a really smart story about what the saga says about the country’s AI market www.wired.com/story/china-...
China’s OpenClaw Boom Is a Gold Rush for AI Companies
Hype around the open source agent is driving people to rent cloud servers and buy AI subscriptions just to try it, creating a windfall for tech companies.
wired.com
SCOOP: The Pentagon/Anthropic feud has been all over the news, but few details about how the military actually uses AI chatbots have come out, until today @carolinehaskins.bsky.social uncovered tons of specifics about how these tools are likely being deployed www.wired.com/story/palant...
Palantir Demos Show How the Military Could Use AI Chatbots to Generate War Plans
Software demos and Pentagon records detail how chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude could help the Pentagon analyze intelligence and suggest next steps.
wired.com
SCOOP from @zoeschiffer.bsky.social & @laurengoode.bsky.social Nvidia is planning to launch an open-source platform for AI agents, people familiar with the company’s plans tell WIRED: www.wired.com/story/nvidia...
Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform
Ahead of its annual developer conference, Nvidia is readying a new approach to software that embraces AI agents similar to OpenClaw.
wired.com
SCOOP from @knibbs.bsky.social: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down. Venture capitalist Toni Schneider will take over as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement www.wired.com/story/bluesk...
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber Is Stepping Down
Venture capitalist Toni Schneider will take over as interim CEO as Bluesky’s board of directors hunts for a permanent replacement.
wired.com
So excited for @carolinehaskins.bsky.social to make her debut in Made in China this week!! On TikTok, Chinese drone manufacturers are peddling tools of modern warfare but presenting them with the breezy cadence of consumer lifestyle advertising www.wired.com/story/pew-pe...
‘Pew Pew’: The Chinese Companies Marketing Anti-Drone Weapons on TikTok
On TikTok, Chinese manufacturers are advertising signal-blocking weapons with the breezy cadence of consumer lifestyle advertising.
wired.com
just had my debut Made in China guest appearance!! : ) got to collab with @lmatsakis.bsky.social on this piece about the Chinese companies selling anti-drone tech on TikTok, featuring the opening line "PEW, PEW, PEW!" www.wired.com/story/pew-pe...
‘Pew Pew’: The Chinese Companies Marketing Anti-Drone Weapons on TikTok
On TikTok, Chinese manufacturers are advertising signal-blocking weapons with the breezy cadence of consumer lifestyle advertising.
wired.com
This is like seeing HQ kill the joke of 67. Chinese Embassy in the US has started a “becomingchinesechallenge” on Facebook. Now you have a four week window to become Chinese! Just kidding that’s the death time of this trend.
Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅@zeyiyang.bsky.social · 7mo agoIn case you didn’t get the memo, everyone is feeling very Chinese these days. Chronically online people like @lmatsakis.bsky.social and I have been tracking the zeitgeist of "You met me at a very Chinese time of my life," "Chinamaxxing," and all other variations. Here's why everyone is saying it:
Here's your mystery of the week: A blog about a small island off the coast of Canada, personal portfolio websites, weather forecast platforms, Shopify sites, and the US federal gov—a wide range of websites have reported being hit by a massive influx of bots tied to China and Singapore since 2025.
A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web
From small publishers to US federal agencies, websites are reporting unusual spikes in automated traffic linked to IP addresses in Lanzhou, China.
wired.com
really, really loved this week’s edition of Made in China. such a fascinating and bizarre story, and @zeyiyang.bsky.social absolutely nailed it www.wired.com/story/made-i...
A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web
From small publishers to US federal agencies, websites are reporting unusual spikes in automated traffic linked to IP addresses in Lanzhou, China.
wired.com
Leah is one of the best, most fearless reporters I've ever worked with and it's a privilege to be on her team
Leah Feiger@leahfeiger.bsky.social · 6mo agoNEW: ICE is leasing offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
