For decades, handmade narco subs have been some of the cocaine trade's most elusive and productive workhorses, ferrying multi-ton loads of illicit drugs from Colombian estuaries toward markets in North America and, increasingly, the rest of the world. Now off-the-shelf technology--Starlink terminals, plug-and-play nautical autopilots, high-resolution video cameras--may be advancing that cat-and-mouse game into a new phase. Uncrewed subs could move more cocaine over longer distances, and they wouldn't put human smugglers at risk of capture. And law enforcement around the world is just beginning to grapple with what this means for the future. This story is from the next print issue of magazine, which is all about crime. Google DeepMind is calling for the moral behavior of large language models--such as what they do when called on to act as companions, therapists, medical advisors, and so on--to be scrutinized with the same kind of rigor as their ability to code or do math.

Sign up to receive it in your inbox. The event has a storied history among mystery buffs; some of its first scripts were written by the celebrated author Donald E. Westlake, along with his wife Abby, and they often collaborated with notable writer friends, including Stephen King, Edward Gorey, and Isaac Asimov, on everything from performing to graphic design. A half century ago, few, if any, hotels offered "immersive theatre" as an amenity, and the Mystery Weekend became a hot ticket for city dwellers--the first weekend, in 1977, drew more than two hundred participants. Soon, mystery-solving events were de rigueur at many rural hotels, whose owners found that staging crime scenes was a surefire way to lure cosmopolitans to the country during the off-season. In 1992, the reporter Alessandra Stanley noted that the swelling glut of mystery parties came in three categories: serious, "in which participants form teams and spend two to three days"; semi-serious, which "take place in large hotels, over meals, and are meant to be more entertaining than challenging"; and those on cruise ships, which are fully unserious.

Is the Rat War Over? In New York, a rat czar and new methods have brought down complaints. We may even be ready to appreciate the creatures. Rats were leaving Manhattan, hurrying across the bridges in single-file lines. Some went to Westchester, some to Brooklyn. It was the pandemic, and the rats, which had been living off the nourishing trash of New York's densest borough for generations, were as panicked about the closure of restaurants as we were. People were eating three meals a day at home, and the rats were hungry. At least that was the story going around.

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New York state has required companies to disclose if "technological innovation or automation" was the cause of job loss for nearly a year. Over 160 companies in New York state have filed notices of mass layoffs since last March. None--in a group that includes Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and other employers that are adopting AI tools --attributed their workforce cuts in those filings to "technological innovation or automation." That option was added 11 months ago to a required question on paperwork that businesses with 50 or more employees must file with the state to notify of sizable job losses. New York's Department of Labor told WIRED that, as of the end of January, no employer had marked tech as the reason for their workforce reduction.

Sign up to receive it in your inbox. Your story in this week's issue, " Predictions and Presentiments," is drawn from your forthcoming book, " Beginning Middle End," which is coming out in July. The audio version will incorporate sounds that you and your team recorded in Sicily, where both the piece and the novel are set. How would you compare the creative processes of writing and recording, and the experiences of reading and listening? Recording sound and listening attentively have been an integral part of my writing process for a long time now.

Red and blue states alike have introduced legislation in recent weeks that would halt data center development, citing concerns from climate to high energy prices. An Amazon Web Services data center in Stone Ridge, Virginia.Photograph: Nathan Howard/Getty Images Two New York lawmakers on Friday announced that they are introducing a bill that would impose a three-year moratorium on data center development. The announcement makes New York at least the sixth state to introduce legislation putting a pause on data center development in the past few weeks--one of the latest signs of a growing and bipartisan backlash that is quickly finding traction in statehouses around the country. Data center moratoriums are "being tested as a model throughout states in this country," said state senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat, who presented the bill at a press conference Friday with its cosponsor, assembly member Anna Kelles, also a Democrat. "Democrats and Republicans are moving forward with exactly these kinds of moratoriums. New York should be in the front of the line to get this done."

The showrunner thinks AI will be good for burgeoning filmmakers, but not for Hollywood blockbusters. Jonathan Nolan saw this coming. As a screenwriter, he's worked on several of his brother Christopher Nolan's films, from to the movies. Partnered with his wife Lisa Joy, he created HBO's and executive produced Amazon Prime's . But before that, he cut his TV teeth creating, a CBS procedural about a solitary tech billionaire who creates a piece of surveillance software aimed at stopping crime before it happens. It was fiction, but it's hard not to feel its prescience. With, now in its second season, Nolan also has his sights on the future. Based on the video game series of the same name, it's about a postapocalyptic America where everyone must survive in any way they can. So, what does Nolan see happening in the coming decades? For one, he doesn't think AI is going to replace human filmmakers. In fact, he thinks it could help aspiring directors get a foot in the door. He'd also like to see the demise of (most) social media--but understands that may never happen. For this week's episode of The Big Interview podcast, I asked Nolan about all of those things and more. Below you'll find his thoughts on writing Batman movies, classic cars, and what he'd actually bring to his own doomsday bunker. Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to have you here in person in New York. I'm from Canada so my barometer is a little off, but I tend to think of New York as wimpy cold. No, no, this is real. The older I get the weaker and more frail. So I can't tolerate [it]. I've been in LA for 25 years.

He catches nascent changes in the political weather. "During early, he kept telling me, 'Crime--there's something here,' " DeBoo told me. DeBoo studied the latest crime statistics and saw nothing unusual. He brushed off the worry. Then new numbers came out, showing a large pandemic spike in shoplifting and car theft, and concerns about crime exploded into the headlines. Last March, judging the winds, Newsom launched a podcast, "This Is Gavin Newsom."

Apple's Siri AI will be powered by Gemini Governor Hochul is backing a pilot program to offer commercial self-driving car services in the state. Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car company, tested its autonomous vehicles in New York City in 2025, and as part of proposed legislation from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the company could soon offer its services across the state, reports . Governor Hochul's proposed legislation was formally announced during a State of the State address covering policy proposals for the upcoming year. The new law, if passed, would loosen the state's restrictions on self-driving car companies by forming a pilot program that would allow for the limited deployment of commercial for-hire autonomous passenger vehicles outside New York City. Applicants to the pilot program would need to demonstrate that they have local support for [autonomous vehicle] deployment and prove their adherence to the highest possible safety standards to be considered.