Plus: Gay bars in San Francisco using face scanners, France quits Palantir, Apple plans to change its private email, and more. Meta is testing face-recognition software built by the United States military and regional police department supplier Rank One, WIRED found in an investigation this week. Meta has been exploring the possibility of adding face recognition tech into its smart glasses, and WIRED previously reported that the app for the glasses contained code --now deleted--that would have enabled the company to activate face-recognition features on the devices. Anthropic is still negotiating with the Trump administration, after apparent White House concerns about the safety of new public model Claude Fable 5 resulted in Anthropic pulling the product off the market entirely. But security experts point out that AI models with advanced capabilities for discovering and exploiting software vulnerabilities--in other words, creating potentially dangerous hacking tools-- will be ubiquitous soon around the world .

We'll see how players react. Steam Next Fest has come around again, and this season, players may have some extra reason to look closely at the labels for whatever demos they test out. To do the math for you, that's 19.5 percent or just shy of a fifth of the games included in the showcase. The high prevalence is a bit surprising considering how many already released games have seen backlash from players when gen AI materials have been discovered. Many indie game leaders have also been particularly hawkish about when and how AI is used in development.

RJ Scaringe, the CEO of Rivian Automotive, joined us for a wide-ranging interview about how his company's new electric SUV fits into the current EV industry, and what comes next. RJ Scaringe got his PhD from MIT studying internal combustion engines. Then he founded a company to make them obsolete. In 2009, fresh out of grad school, he launched what would become Rivian. The company spent nearly a decade in stealth mode before arriving at the 2018 LA Auto Show with two electric rides nobody had seen coming. The road, however, hasn't been easy. Rivian lost $3.6 billion in 2025, and has burned through nearly $25 billion in the past eight years. It has spent more money over the same period than almost every other pure EV maker. Rivian's IPO was the largest worldwide in 2021, and one of the largest in US history, within days valuing the company at over $100 billion. Its stock has dropped from a high of $130 to around $16. Since the R1 went on sale in 2021, Rivian has sold 175,000 cars.

Soccer officials already rely on cameras to see who's offside and who sent the ball out of bounds. But during this World Cup, refs will use digital twins of each player to view plays from every angle. At the 2026 World Cup, the refs on the field and the officials on the sidelines will be able to use an abundance of tech to help call penalties, spot offside violations, and make other consequential decisions. The video assistant referee system, known as VAR, and the semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) have been used in soccer for years. But the setup at this summer's World Cup represents some of the most advanced uses of adjudication tech to date--not just in soccer, but across all high-level sports.

Inspired by Shannon Vallor's book The AI Mirror, this compelling piece looks at how we are being affected by our deepening interactions with tech Traditional ballet with tutus and pointe shoes is my preferred night at the theatre, but I enjoyed a contemporary piece recently at London's Sadler's Wells East. The piece, Mirror, by the Alexander Whitley Dance Company, will also be at the city's Royal Opera House on 4 June. It is inspired by the book by Shannon Vallor, a professor in the ethics of data and artificial intelligence, in which she argues for and against the use of AI. Vallor wants us to find a middle ground between passively resigning ourselves to AI as a replacement for our agency, and seeing it as an existential threat that must be defeated. As a science journalist, I like the balance of Vallor's book, but, for me, this didn't translate to the dance piece.

PCWorld tested Microsoft's Auto SR, a DLSS rival exclusive to the Asus ROG Ally X, finding it delivers only marginal 10% performance gains in games like Borderlands 3. The technology currently works only in docked mode at 720p resolution and produces notably degraded visuals described as'muddy' and'swimmy' compared to native resolution. Auto SR remains in Preview status with significant usability issues including incorrect scaling and required game restarts, making it inadequate for handheld gaming improvement. Last week Microsoft announced the arrival of Auto SR, its Windows-branded alternative to upscaling tech like DLSS, with great fanfare. After being semi-exclusive to Snapdragon laptops, it came to the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X and nothing else. Not even the non-X variant, since it needs an NPU to run. And also it only works in docked mode, not handheld mode.

Steven Soderbergh, who has voiced interest in using AI in his films. Steven Soderbergh, who has voiced interest in using AI in his films. Why are respected film-makers suddenly embracing AI? I n Steven Soderbergh's beguiling new movie The Christophers, a reclusive artist (Ian McKellen) tangles with the quiet art forger (Michaela Coel) who his greedy children have hired to secretly finish further entries in a well-known painting series. The movie is smart and provocative about the nature of artistry and authorship, exploring what it means to create - and to stop creating.

The golden era of the tech industry is dead--leaving 1.2 million laid-off workers like me scrambling in a job market that no longer wants us. On Feb. 10, 2025, at 7:32 a.m., the dreaded email hit my inbox. After nearly six years at Meta as a content strategist, one total company rebrand, and three previous mass layoffs, I got the axe. My time was bound to come. I often joked darkly that I was a cat with only so many lives left.

The billion-dollar action film series John Wick is being turned into a video game, featuring the likeness and voice of star Keanu Reeves. Untitled John Wick Game, as it is currently known, will be made by Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive and include input from film franchise director Chad Stahelsk. A trailer for the game, which is expected to be a prequel to the series, was unveiled at PlayStation's State of Play showcase on Thursday. The Sony event also revealed several remakes of major game franchises, including the God of War trilogy, as well as a 30th anniversary edition of platformer Rayman. The John Wick film franchise, which has earned more than $1bn (£735m) worldwide, follows the story of the retired assassin played by Keanu Reeves on a path of bloody vengeance.

Stuck in regulatory limbo, the self-driving-vehicle developer is encouraging residents of Washington, DC, to message public officials to help get its robotaxis onto roads. Waymo needs some help, according to an email message the self-driving developer sent to residents of Washington, DC, on Thursday. For more than a year, Waymo has been pushing city officials to pass new regulations allowing its robotaxis to operate in the district. So far, self-driving cars can test in the city with humans behind the wheel, but cannot operate in driver-free mode. The Alphabet subsidiary--and its lobbyists--have asked local lawmakers, including Mayor Muriel Bower and members of the city council, to create new rules allowing the tech to go truly driverless on its public roads.