Somehow, it's been a full year since I took the helm at WIRED. That felt like a good time to share some reflections on the past year with you, our valued readers.
WIRED is committed to championing a better future, and in the last year, we've not only shown how the future is being created, but we've held the creators of that future firmly to account. Take Tim Marchman and Dhruv Mehrotra's investigation into Perplexity, which was widely covered and cited by outlets around the world, as an example of how our work is setting the agenda and effecting change. (Case in point: When your own company sends a cease and desist based on your reporting, you did something right.)
Our story zero approach—the mission to tell the story before anyone knows there's a story to tell—has pushed us to more firsts, more scoops, and more conversation-starting work. Investigations into Elon Musk's Neuralink monkeys, Jeffrey Epstein's island visitors, and Mark Zuckerberg's top-secret Hawaiian compound are perfect examples of that. So too are the blockbuster stories coming out of our features team—including our latest US cover story from WIRED's own Sandra Upson.
Of course, there's nothing more consequential to our shared future right now than the elections taking place around the world. Technology and politics are more interwoven than ever, which is why launching our politics vertical was so critical last year. WIRED has been breaking notable stories—like our investigation into JD Vance's Venmo, Hasan Piker's pivot away from the Biden presidency, and exclusive dispatches from inside election-denial groups. We've also strived to be ambitious and creative: Our May launch of the AI Election Misinformation Tracker, and August's guide to influencers shaping the US election,will be vital resources through election season and beyond.
We're also expanding The Big Interview, which launched today as a YouTube video series, will lead our November-December print issue, and will be the theme of our event in San Francisco this December (we've already got a great slate of speakers, including Jensen Huang, Mira Murati, and Zack Snyder, and would love to see you there). And we're reaching people around the world, with hundreds attending the recent WIRED Singularity event in Japan, and more joining us soon at Mexico's WIRED Summit and Italy's WIRED Next Fest 2024.
And let's not forget about the fun stuff: WIRED is still a place for the weird, for the counterprogramming, and of course, for the product guidance: In the last month, millions of readers came to us for buying advice, trusting us to help them sort out home Wi-Fi, get a better office chair, and find the right password manager. We're also continuing to break ground on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, including with Rhett Allain's recent Olympics explainer videos, which are helping inspire a new generation of physics nerds. And be on the lookout for a reboot of WIRED's beloved Gadget Lab podcast, the launch of even more YouTube pilots, and more blockbuster, agenda-setting reporting.
None of this could happen without our loyal audience, so I also want to take a moment to thank you for reading, listening, and watching. And please consider subscribing to WIRED; your support makes the future of journalism possible.
