This week’s episode of WIRED’s podcast Uncanny Valley, hosted by Zoë Schiffer and senior editor Louise Matsakis, covers five timely tech stories and dives deeply into the emerging phenomenon of “AI psychosis”—the claim that interactions with chatbots like ChatGPT can induce or exacerbate mental health crises.
**AI Is Shaping the Future of Shopping—and SEO**
The first story examines how the holiday shopping landscape is being transformed by AI chatbots. A recent Adobe report predicts up to a 520% increase in online shopping traffic coming from chatbots and AI-powered search engines this season. Major retailers and tech firms, like OpenAI through its new partnership with Walmart, are making it possible for users to shop directly within chat interfaces.
This shift is upending traditional search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Retailers have long relied on SEO—tweaking web content to rank higher on Google. But now, the focus is shifting to “generative engine optimization” (GEO): tailoring content so it can be surfaced by AI chatbots. While some of the underlying logic remains (since chatbots often draw from search results), the overlap between Google’s top links and the sources cited by AI tools is rapidly shrinking. Imri Marcus, CEO of GEO firm Brandlight, estimates that the correlation has dropped from 70% to under 20%. For businesses, especially small ones, this means rethinking web content—offering more direct, bulleted explanations and use cases for products, rather than relying on elaborate branding or storytelling. As Schiffer and Matsakis note, this might also spell the end of lengthy, narrative-heavy blog posts in favor of concise, informational formats that AI can easily digest and present to users.
**FTC Blog Posts on AI Regulation Disappear**
The second story, reported by Lauren Goode and Makena Kelly, looks at a controversial move by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): the removal of several blog posts about AI regulation published under former chair Lina Khan. These posts, which discussed open-source AI models and consumer concerns, have been rerouted or simply deleted, raising alarms about transparency and institutional memory.
Matsakis argues this is troubling both historically and practically. Such posts serve as guidance not only for the public but also for businesses looking to stay within regulatory bounds. Their disappearance leaves companies uncertain about the current administration’s stance. The removals are puzzling, especially since some of the views expressed (like support for open-source models) are shared across political lines, including by figures in the current Trump administration. This follows a broader trend: earlier this year, the FTC also scrubbed hundreds of posts related to AI and consumer protection, further muddying the regulatory waters.
**Frogs as Protest Symbols in Anti-Authoritarian Demonstrations**
Switching gears, the third story explores how inflatable frog costumes have become a symbol in the recent “No Kings” protests against perceived authoritarianism in the US. On a recent weekend, about seven million