NVIDIA is still planning to make a'huge' investment in OpenAI, CEO says The comment comes after a report from The Wall Street Journal suggested an earlier deal between the two companies had stalled. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told reporters that the company will invest a great deal of money in OpenAI's latest funding round, according to, after on Friday reported that the two companies were rethinking a previous $100 billion deal that hasn't progressed beyond the early stages of negotiations. Speaking to reporters in Taipei this weekend, Huang reportedly said it could be the largest investment we've ever made. NVIDIA and OpenAI jointly announced in September that NVIDIA would be investing up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build 10 gigawatts of AI data centers. The companies said then that they were targeting the second half of 2026 for the first phase of the project to go online.

Immigration agents have used Mobile Fortify to scan the faces of countless people in the US--including many citizens. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security published new details about Mobile Fortify, the face recognition app that federal immigration agents use to identify people in the field, undocumented immigrants and US citizens alike. The details, including the company behind the app, were published as part of DHS's 2025 AI Use Case Inventory, which federal agencies are required to release periodically. The inventory includes two entries for Mobile Fortify--one for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), another for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)--and says the app is in the "deployment" stage for both. CBP says that Mobile Fortify became "operational" at the beginning of May last year, while ICE got access to it on May 20, 2025.

A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a "health privacy crisis" that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care. When immigration agents enter hospitals and private companies are allowed to buy and sell data that reveals who seeks medical care, patients retreat, treatment is delayed, and health outcomes worsen, according to a new report that describes a growing "health privacy crisis" in the United States driven by surveillance and weak law enforcement limits. The report, published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), attributes the problem to outdated privacy laws and rapidly expanding digital systems that allow health-related information to be tracked, analyzed, breached, and accessed by both private companies and government agencies. EPIC, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on privacy and civil liberties, based its findings on a review of federal and state laws, court rulings, agency policies, technical research, and documented case studies examining how health data is collected, shared, and used across government and commercial systems. "Unregulated digital technologies, mass surveillance, and weak privacy laws have created a health privacy crisis," the report says.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Self-driving vehicles charge at the Waymo station in Santa Monica. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Waymo is taking the city of Santa Monica to court after the city ordered the company to cease charging its autonomous vehicles at two facilities overnight, claiming the lights and beeping at the lots were a nuisance to residents.

In today's episode of, we dive into five stories--from AI to DOGE--that encapsulate the year and give us clues as to what might unfold in 2026. For better or for worse, this year had it all--from the AI industry shaping the global economy and our lives, to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency taking over US federal agencies under Elon Musk's leadership. In today's episode, host Zoë Schiffer and executive editor Brian Barrett get together to reflect on some of this year's key moments--and how they give us important clues as to what we can expect this upcoming year. The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . Today on the show, we're wrapping up our news episode series by reflecting on the trends and stories that shaped 2025. And who better to do that with than Brian Barrett, our executive editor who works tirelessly in the shadows? Thank you for having me. Happy to emerge from my shadowy lair. What a year it's been, and I'm so excited for it to be almost over. Because it's been quite a year news-wise, safe to say, especially in tech and politics. Honestly, it was a little bit tricky to pick which trends we should discuss today, but we settled on five stories that kind of encapsulate this year pretty well, and I think give us clues as to what is going to be unfolding in 2026. The first one that I want to talk about is dear to my heart, and it's about AI data centers. So we all know that the investment, the amount of money being spent on data centers is absolutely staggering, with companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft tripling down on AI infrastructure spending this year. But it's not just about the money that's being spent.

What is in the 28-point US plan for Ukraine? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Can the US get all sides to end the war? Why is Europe opposing Trump's peace plan? Two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian city of Saratov, regional Governor Roman Busargin said in a statement on Telegram. An unspecified number of people were also injured in the attack.

The ChatGPT-maker is releasing its "best model yet" as it faces new pressures from Google and other AI competitors. OpenAI has introduced GPT-5.2, its smartest artificial intelligence model yet, with performance gains across writing, coding, and reasoning benchmarks. The launch comes just days after CEO Sam Altman internally declared a "code red," a company-wide push to improve ChatGPT amid intense competition from rivals. "We announced this code red to really signal to the company that we want to marshall resources in one particular area, and that's a way to really define priorities," said OpenAI's CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, in a briefing with reporters on Thursday. "We have had an increase in resources focused on ChatGPT in general."

Sahil Lavingia, previously a DOGE operative at the Department of Veterans Affairs, is now a career employee at the IRS. He said at WIRED's Big Interview event that he expects to work there 10 years. Sahil Lavingia, the former member of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) first identified by WIRED, has a new job in government at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Lavingia joined the IRS in November. In a conversation at WIRED's Big Interview event with former acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Leland Dudek and David Foote, outside counsel for the US Institute of Peace, Lavingia said, "I'm working at IRS for online accounts."

The 30-year-old Virginia resident evaded capture for years after authorities discovered pipe bombs planted near buildings in Washington, DC, the day before the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Prince William County police seal the street in front of the home of suspected January 6, 2021, pipe bomber on December 4, 2025, in Woodbridge, Virginia. Federal agents have arrested a suspect identified as Brian Cole. Federal agents on Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect charged with planting the two pipe bombs discovered near the US Capitol complex on the eve of January 6, 2021 . Authorities identified the man as Brian J. Cole Jr., a resident of Woodbridge, Virginia.

Two years after he was found guilty of fraud, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is pursuing a legal appeal--and firing up his X account. On September 23, for the first time in more than six months, an X account belonging to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried published a post . It simply read, "gm"--internet slang for "good morning." The account has been posting consistently since. Bankman-Fried--known widely as SBF--is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in California.