이번 주 'Uncanny Valley' 팟캐스트에서는 메타(Meta)의 대규모 감원과 침체된 사내 분위기를 분석합니다. 또한 일론 머스크의 OpenAI 소송 패소, 구글 I/O에서 발표된 AI 기반의 검색 변화, 그리고 대학 졸업생과 AI 업계 종사자 아내들이 보여주는 'AI 피로감' 등을 심도 있게 다룹니다.
번역된 본문
이번 주 'Uncanny Valley'에서는 메타의 최근 대규모 해고 사태와 사내 분위기가 점차 을씨년스러워지고 있다는 직원들의 증언을 논의합니다. 또한 일론 머스크가 OpenAI를 상대로 진 소송에 대해 이야기하고, 구글의 연례 콘퍼런스 하이라이트—사람들이 웹을 검색하는 방식을 바꾸려는 야심 찬 AI 비전—를 공유합니다. 마지막으로 최근 대학 졸업생과 배우자가 AI 업계에서 일하는 여성들에게는 어떤 공통점이 있을까요? 그들은 모두 AI 이야기를 듣는 것에 진저리가 나 있습니다.
이 에피소드에서 언급된 기사:
메타의 새로운 현실: 사상 최고의 수익, 그리고 최악의 사기
구글 I/O 2026에서 발표된 모든 것: 제미나이(Gemini), 검색, 스마트 안경
구글 검색, 에이전트(Agentic)로 전환하다—이제 당신이 필요 없다
슬픈 AI 아내들을 만나보세요
블루스카이(Bluesky)에서 브라이언 배럿(@brbarrett), 조이 시퍼(@zoeschiffer), 리아 파이거(@leahfeiger)를 팔로우할 수 있습니다. 문의 사항은 [이메일 보호됨]으로 보내주세요.
청취 방법:
이 페이지의 오디오 플레이어를 통해 이번 주 팟캐스트를 언제든 들을 수 있습니다. 매 에피소드를 무료로 구독하려면 다음 방법을 따르세요. 아이폰이나 아이패드를 사용 중이라면 '팟캐스트' 앱을 열거나 이 링크를 탭하세요. 오버캐스트(Overcast)나 포켓 캐스트(Pocket Casts) 같은 앱을 다운로드하고 'uncanny valley'를 검색해도 됩니다. 스포티파이(Spotify)에서도 저희를 만나볼 수 있습니다.
대본 참고: 자동 생성된 대본이므로 오류가 포함되어 있을 수 있습니다.
조이 시퍼: WIRED의 'Uncanny Valley'에 오신 것을 환영합니다. 비즈니스 및 산업 담당 디렉터 조이 시퍼입니다.
브라이언 배럿: 저는 전무 편집장 브라이언 배럿입니다.
리아 파이거: 그리고 저는 정치 및 과학 담당 디렉터 리아 파이거입니다.
브라이언 배럿: 그리고 저희는 모두 같은 방에 있습니다—
조이 시퍼: 세상에, 맞아요.
브라이언 배럿: —팟캐스트 진행을 위해 같은 공간에 모인 건 이번이 처음이네요.
조이 시퍼: 같은 방이네요.
리아 파이거: 저도 드디어 단체 채팅방에 초대받았어요.
조이 시퍼: 그럼요.
브라이언 배럿: 다들 어쩐지 신나 보이네요.
조이 시퍼: 오늘 방송에서는 메타(Meta)의 대규모 해고로 인한 완전한 몰락 분위기에 대해 이야기할 것입니다. 10명 이상의 직원들과 이야기를 나눴는데, 메타 직원들이 정말 힘든 시기를 겪고 있는 이유는 해고가 유일한 이유가 절대 아니었습니다.
브라이언 배럿: 그리고 물론, 일론 머스크의 재판 결과를 빼놓을 수 없겠죠. 그는 샘 알트만과 OpenAI를 상대로 한 소송에서 상상할 수 있는 가장 완벽하고 극적인 방식으로 패소했습니다. 조이, 이 주제에 대해 이야기하는걸 기대하고 계신 거 알고 있습니다.
조이 시퍼: 네, 그럼요.
브라이언 배럿: 저는 구글의 연례 개발자 콘퍼런스인 '구글 I/O'에서 극적으로 변화한 검색 기능에 대해 이야기하는 것을 기대하고 있습니다.
리아 파이거: 여러분은 구글의 전 CEO인 에릭 슈밋(Eric Schmidt)이 졸업 연설에서 AI를 찬양했다가 졸업생들에게 야유를 받았다는 소식을 들으셨을 겁니다. 왜 젊은 성인들은 AI를 사용하면서도 이에 대해 매우 복잡한 감정을 가지고 있는지에 대해 알아볼 것입니다. 그리고 방송 후반부에서는 이른바 'AI 폐인' 남편과 결혼한 여성들이 왜 한계에 다다랐는지에 대해 들어보겠습니다.
조이 시퍼: 먼저, 메타에서 지금 무슨 일이 일어나고 있는지 자세히 살펴보겠습니다. 이번 주 회사는 전체 직원의 약 10%에 달하는 약 8,000명의 직원을 해고하고 있습니다. 이는 2023년 마크 저커버그가 시작한 '효율화의 해(Year of Efficiency)'와 최근 그가 도입하고 개발하려는 최신 AI 중심의 업무 환경의 일환으로 지난 몇 년간 약 25,000개의 일자리가 감축된 데 이은 최신 해고 라운드입니다. 이번 감원이 기존에 있었던 대규모 해고만큼 크지는 않지만 많은 관심을 받고 있습니다. 마크 저커버그 CEO는 이번 해고가 이루어지는 이유가 적어도 상당 부분 회사가 AI와 데이터 센터에 너무 많은 돈을 지출하고 있기 때문이라고 밝혔기 때문입니다.
브라이언 배럿: 저희는 화요일에 녹음하고 있지만, 이 문제에 대해 이렇게 자신 있게 깊이 있게 이야기할 수 있는 이유는 메타가 이 소식을 한참 전에 발표했기 때문입니다.
Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story This week on Uncanny Valley , the team discusses Meta’s recent layoffs and what they’ve been hearing from employees about the increasingly grim vibes at the company. They also talk about Elon Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI and share highlights from Google’s annual conference—including an ambitious AI vision to change how people search the web. Finally, what do recent college graduates and women whose spouses work in AI have in common? They’re all sick of hearing about it. Articles mentioned in this episode: Meta’s New Reality: Record High Profits. Record Low Morale Everything Announced at Google I/O 2026: Gemini, Search, Smart Glasses Google Search Goes Agentic—and Doesn’t Need You Anymore Meet the Sad Wives of AI You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett , Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer , and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger . Write to us at [email protected] . How to Listen You 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. Transcript Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors. Zoë Schiffer : Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley . I'm Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry. Brian Barrett : I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor. Leah Feiger : And I'm Leah Feiger, director of politics and science. Brian Barrett : And we're all in the same room— Zoë Schiffer : Oh, my God. Brian Barrett : —for the first time from the podcast. Zoë Schiffer : Same room. Leah Feiger : I got invited to the group chat. Zoë Schiffer : You did. Brian Barrett : Look at that. Zoë Schiffer : Today on the show, we're discussing the complete meltdown over mass layoffs at Meta . We spoke to more than a dozen employees and it turns out the job cuts are far from the only reason why Meta employees are really going through it. Brian Barrett : And of course, we wouldn't skip the Elon Musk verdict . He lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI in really as full a way as you can, as dramatically as possible. I know, Zoë, you're looking forward to talking about that. Zoë Schiffer : Yes. Brian Barrett : And I'm looking forward to talking about Google's annual developer conference, I/O, where it debuted some dramatic changes to search . Leah Feiger : And you might've seen that Google's former CEO, Eric Schmidt , recently got booed by graduating students after he praised AI in a commencement speech. We're going to get into why young adults might be using AI, but they have very complicated feelings about it. And later in the show, we're going to hear about why women married to AI bros have had enough . Zoë Schiffer : First up, let's dive into what is happening at Meta . This week, the company is letting go of roughly 10 percent of its workforce, which is about 8,000 employees total. It's the latest round of job cuts, adding to the roughly 25,000 jobs that have been cut in the past few years as part of Mark Zuckerberg's Year of Efficiency that started in 2023 and now the latest AI-forward workplace, which he is trying to develop and impose. And while these latest cuts are not as big as some of the rounds of layoffs that have already happened, they're getting a ton of attention because Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, has said that the reason they're happening, in part at least, in large part, is because the company is spending so much money on AI and data centers. Brian Barrett : We record this on a Tuesday, but the reason we're able to talk so fully and confidently about this is because Meta announced this a while ago. Leah Feiger : Oh, yeah. Zoë Schiffer : They didn't announce it. The news leaked. Brian Barrett : The news leaked. But then they acknowledged it. Zoë Schiffer : Weeks and weeks later. Brian Barrett : Yes. But still, it's been a long time— Zoë Schiffer : It's a long time. Brian Barrett : —that this has been out in the open, which has resulted in, I think, a little bit of chaos time inside of Meta because you've got, a what, a one in 10 chance of not having your job anymore? Zoë Schiffer : Yeah it’s, I mean, suffice to say, impacting morale in really horrific ways, but it's not the only thing, like we said. Mark Zuckerberg is also really encouraging employees to use AI. There've been all of these changes internally to that end. Some people really like it and are adopting it. Some people are really pushing back on it. But I think for a lot of employees who joined Meta during this era of endless perks, lots of job security, kind of like a chiller atmosphere compared to some of the other startups in the Valley. Leah Feiger : Let's invest. Zoë Schiffer : They have that going for a while. Leah Feiger : It wasn't full Google, but it— Zoë Schiffer : Somewhat there. Leah Feiger : —had that vibe. To me, someone so on the outside of this in every single way, I know about these layoffs because they've been, A) so chaotic, but B) in some ways, needlessly so. Not to say that other tech companies aren't firing scores of workers all the time. That feels like something we discuss on this podcast frequently, but this is happening with such a large runway and in a way that's making employees feel so terrible about themselves. Brian Barrett : Well, because it's not just the layoffs, right? It's also, even if you stay there, if you're not culled from the herd, you are going to have to deal with this world in which you've got spyware on your laptops training AI to probably take your job at some point, right? Zoë Schiffer : Explain that a little bit. Brian Barrett : Meta announced, and this was more public, that they were going to put software on employee laptops that would monitor their keystrokes and how they move their cursors and basically how they do their job as Meta engineers and use that as training data for their own internal models to try to make their AI models better because they're running out of other sources. Zoë Schiffer : And could you opt out of that, Brian? Brian Barrett : That's a great question. I'm so glad you asked. You could not opt out. Zoë Schiffer : I felt you didn't know the answer to that one. Brian Barrett : In fact, when an employee asked in a very public forum within Meta, "Hey, could we not do this?" Zoë, the response was? Zoë Schiffer : Oh, absolutely you're going to do this and shame on you for asking. And some of the employees who are staying, actually thousands of the employees who are staying, are getting drafted into the AI ranks. We published a piece today that was kind of about the morale inside the company, but also how there's been this mad dash to use up perks and stipends that employees have. But one of the things that's said at the end was that remaining employees are being asked to join AI teams. So whatever your job was previously, they're internally getting drafted. You're getting drafted into the AI ranks, now your job is going to look quite different. Brian Barrett : That's like 7,000 people. Zoë Schiffer : Yes. Leah Feiger : I've actually heard people use the word raptured. Zoë Schiffer : Oh, my gosh. Leah Feiger : Isn't that— Zoë Schiffer : And I wish we had that in the story. Leah Feiger : I'm so sorry, but raptured into other teams. All of a sudden one day they've just disappeared. After this layoff, has Zuckerberg and co proposed a sort of coherent leadership plan or proposal? What happens after this? Zoë Schiffer : This is the confusing thing accor