Inside Elon Musk’s Midterm Spending Spree

Oct 8, 2026 5:14 PM

This week on Uncanny Valley, we discuss where Elon Musk’s PAC is spending millions, the latest ideology Trump claims is dangerous, and the backlash against the designer behind Muse’s logo.

Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images

This week on Uncanny Valley, Zoë Schiffer and Leah Feiger dive into how Elon Musk’s America PAC is spending millions on the most consequential Senate races of the 2026 midterms—and how most of that money goes to opposing Democrats rather than supporting Republicans. They also break down effective altruism, the once-niche philosophy now at the center of the AI safety debate, and why the Trump administration has called it a dangerous ideology. Plus, they discuss the backlash against the graphic designer who created the logo for Meta’s AI assistant, Muse.

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Articles mentioned in this episode:

• Elon Musk’s America PAC Is Spending Big on the Midterms. We’re Tracking It Daily
• Elon Musk’s America PAC Is Quietly Funding November’s Most Consequential Elections
• Spend Elon Musk’s Money
• She Designed Meta’s New AI Logo. Then Came the Hate

You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at [email protected].

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Transcript

Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.

Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I'm Zoë Schiffer, contributing editor.

Leah Feiger: And we're going to get into why the designer of Meta's Muse logo has been receiving a ton of backlash. Zoë spoke with her all about it this week and she had a lot to say. Zoë, it's just me and you this week. We've officially pushed Brian off a cliff.

Leah Feiger: Whoa.