Brian BarrettZoë SchifferLeah FeigerMolly TaftBusinessAug 6, 2026 3:30 PMICE’s DNA Collection Increases, SpaceX’s Rocket Crashes Into the Moon, and the AI Backlash GrowsIn today’s episode of Uncanny Valley, we discuss how ICE has been collecting DNA samples of people who have no criminal convictions, including children, which end up in an FBI database indefinitely.Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyThis week on Uncanny Valley, Brian Barrett, Zoë Schiffer, and Leah Feiger break down how ICE has collected DNA from nearly a million people this year, including young children, feeding an FBI database indefinitely. The team also discusses the backlash against Google Earth’s AI slop, the White House’s secretive AI cybersecurity plan, and a SpaceX rocket crashing into the moon. Plus, WIRED’s Molly Taft discusses their recent story on the strange left-right coalition fighting data centers across the US.Articles mentioned in this episode:ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young ChildrenAI Influencers Are Heading Into Uncharted TerritoryThe White House Is Keeping Its AI Cybersecurity Framework SecretAI Hacks Are Bad. AI Worms and Viruses Will Be WorseWelp, Nobody Saw SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Crash Into the MoonHow Data Centers Broke American PoliticsYou can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett, Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @Zoëschiffer, Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger, and Molly Taft on Bluesky @mollytaft.com. Write to us at [email protected].How to ListenYou 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. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “uncanny valley.” We’re on Spotify too.TranscriptNote: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley. I'm Zoë Schiffer, contributing editor.Brian Barrett: I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor.Leah Feiger: And I'm Leah Feiger, director of politics and science.Brian Barrett: Today on the show, we're talking about how the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, better known as ICE, has been collecting DNA samples at an alarming rate. These samples have led to hundreds of thousands of people, including young children, to end up in an FBI criminal database basically forever.Zoë Schiffer: We'll also get into one of our favorite topics, AI slop. From Google Earth disabling its new AI tool after people used it to create fake maps to Substack partnering with the AI writing detection tool Pangram, companies are starting to realize that people really don't like low-quality AI content flooding their feeds.Leah Feiger: Also in the realm of AI, the White House announced a plan to tackle the increasing security risks brought on by AI companies. It's keeping the details mostly under wraps, but we're going to discuss what's behind all the secrecy and what this could mean for future regulation.Brian Barrett: We'll also talk about how part of a SpaceX rocket crashed into the moon, leaving a new crater behind and all kinds of questions.Leah Feiger: And later in the show, WIRED senior writer Molly Taft joins to tell us all about how data centers have officially broken US politics.Brian Barrett: Well, to start off, let's talk about ICE, which we haven't in a little bit, but they're still there. They're still doing bad things, including collecting DNA samples. WIRED’s Dhruv Mehrotra reported this week about how ICE has collected nearly 1 million people's DNA this past year, just this past year alone, including that of young children. As we mentioned up top, this DNA collection has led to hundreds of thousands of people with no criminal convictions ending up in an FBI database indefinitely. And in fact, the Department of Homeland Security has become the single largest source of new profiles in this database.Leah Feiger: I feel like we're getting inundated with here's one more part of your privacy, here's one more part of security, here's one more bit of immigrants being treated as subhuman. But this one, at least enough for me, broke through the noise. Don't you guys think? This was wild.Zoë Schiffer: I feel like I have a question before we move forward, which is maybe one that's shared by listeners. Why is DNA being collected from immigrants in the first place? This surprised me, and maybe I'm a little naïve about what they're subjected to when they're in this country.Brian Barrett: Yeah, I mean, I think the answer is because they can. And I wish that we're more nuanced or subtle than that, but I think they are just trying to gather as much information as they can at all times. I want to be clear too, these are not people with criminal convictions, people who are even necessarily suspected of a crime. It is just such a wide net that they are casting. In fact, internal training materials that drove, in partnership with researchers at Georgetown, we should say, dug up, said that asylum seekers and refugees who have not adjusted their immigration status must have their DNA sampled and that the DNA needs to be collected after any arrest. It is just table stakes for these officers to grab DNA whenever and wherever they can.Leah Feiger: And already a lot of lawmakers have been speaking out against this. For example, when learning that children were being swabbed at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, a number of representatives said in a joint statement to WIRED, none of the families at Dilley have been convicted of a crime. They do not belong in a database meant for violent criminals, especially children. This is starting to pick up steam across the board. I think that we've just gotten so used to the idea that the government is allowed to collect any information it wants
