Wired Roundup: The new world of fake video from Openai’s social video app
Manisha Krishnan: Yeah, this season… I mean, this is the first time I watched it in 15 years. But this season has been pretty spot on. It’s as if they’re reading everything Wired and Sarcastic. I feel like if Trump and Eric Adams got on a talk show, that would probably be a sore boom.
Zoë Schiffer: I like it.
Manisha Krishnan: Because everyone will find it funny across political lines.
Zoë Schiffer: So maybe South Park will save us after all. Literally switching gears for our next story. Our colleague Aarian Marshall reported that Tesla was encouraging drowsy drivers to use Full Self-Driving, or FSD, mode on their cars. Contrary to its name, this feature does not actually allow cars to drive themselves, it only helps drivers do a variety of basic tasks. The car manual says that the driver must be ready to take over at all times. But drivers are reporting that in-car messages appear telling them to do just the opposite. The messages say things like “Drowsy detection, stay focused with FSD.” Or, “Lane drift detected, let FSD help you so you can focus.”
Manisha Krishnan: Yes, this sounds dangerous. They’re kind of like, “Hey, want to take a nap now? Let the FSD kick.” No, they should be blasting music, blasting the AC, and making it like a spin class there to wake you up. Tesla has made changes to its technology to make it more difficult for non-touring drivers to use FSD. Back in 2021, the company began using in-car driving surveillance cameras to determine where its drivers were paying enough attention while using FSD.
Zoë Schiffer: It appears to be at odds with their previous efforts to build more safety around self-driving features. This is like a thin time for Tesla. For years, the company has been accused of making products that could be defective in certain ways. Last August, a Florida jury found the company was partially responsible for a 2019 crash that killed a 22-year-old woman. The accident occurred when the Tesla Model S driver was using an older version of the company’s driver-assistance software called AutoPilot. At the same time, Elon Musk and the company’s board of directors have placed FSD at the center of the automakers’ strategy. So Musk promised that this feature would transition into a truly autonomous driving system by the end of the year, although this seems unlikely. Elon Musk is generally known for making overly aggressive, promising promises that are then broken over and over again. One more before we go for broke. Scientists have made human eggs from skin cells, and are using them to form embryos, Wired science reporter Emily Mullen reported this week. This is a huge deal because it could mean a new way to treat infertility for people who want children. But to be clear, none of the embryos were actually used to try to create a pregnancy. It is unlikely that they would have developed further from the womb. But it’s still a really big deal because it could one day be used as an alternative to IVF.