WIRED found thousands of ads running on Meta’s social platforms promoting sexually explicit “AI girlfriend” apps. Some human sex workers say the platform unfairly polices their own posts more harshly. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new rule from the US Federal Trade Commission invalidates most noncompete agreements, frequently used to bind tech workers. It could unlock higher wages, and more entrepreneurship and innovation. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bitcoin halving is imminent. Crypto mining companies are reaching for every trick in the book to survive it. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sales of vegan meat are trending downward in the US, with companies scrambling to win back customers. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Smooth-talking scammers known as “Yahoo Boys” use widely available face-swapping tech to carry out elaborate romance scams. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AngryGF offers a perpetually enraged chatbot intended to teach men better communication skills. WIRED took it for a spin. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elisa Shupe was initially rebuffed when she tried to copyright a book she wrote with help from ChatGPT. Now the US Copyright Office has changed course—but there’s a catch. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google employees are staging sit-ins and protests at company offices in New York and California over “Project Nimbus,” a cloud contract with Israel's government, as the country's war with Hamas continues. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want one of the fastest-growing jobs in the US? Get used to being high. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

H5N1 has infected cattle across the US and jumped from a mammal to a human for the first time. Experts fear it may someday evolve to spread among humans. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transparency advocates say that Eric Schmidt's pursuit of “personal” connections with AI companies in China represents a concerning conflict of interest. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland had not done enough to protect its citizens from climate change—blowing open the door for further cases against governments. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turnitin, a service that checks papers for plagiarism, says its detection tool found millions of papers that may have a significant amount of AI-generated content. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I started coding, I was suspicious of all the abstractions. Then I discovered the Django framework. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zen Goziker worked at TikTok for only six months. Many of his allegations about the company and the US government are improbable. But he still may have shaped how the app is viewed in Washington. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A publisher says some chatbots in OpenAI’s GPT Store were created using its copyrighted textbooks. OpenAI has taken down some of the bots but could face more complaints from rights holders. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CrowdTangle helps researchers track disinformation, but Meta will close it down before the US election. The tool's cofounder, Brandon Silverman, says it's time to force companies to share data. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The London-based social enterprise is turning regular people into at-home zookeepers. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow these tips to produce stronger writing that stands out on the web even in the age of AI and ChatGPT. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two new books offer radically different approaches to how people should think about smartphones and social media. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two cicada broods, XIX and XIII, are emerging in sync for the first time in 221 years. Birds, trees, and dirt are about to get the banquet of a lifetime. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Closing the city’s seaport will send shockwaves across global shipping. Supersized container ships pose a growing risk to bridges and other infrastructure when things go wrong. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme heat and droughts are making it harder to grow grapes in many traditional regions. Here’s how scientists are helping the industry adapt. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WIRED reporting uncovered a site that “nudifies” photos for a fee—and posts a feed appearing to show user uploads. They included photos of young girls and images seemingly taken of strangers. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices