Why Is Meta In Crisis?; Google Search Is Over; AI Gets Booed by Graduates

This week, 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 Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI, and Brian shares the key releases from Google’s annual conference — including an ambitious AI vision to browse the web as we know it. 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 | WIRED Everything Announced at Google I/O 2026: Gemini, Search, Smart Glasses | WIRED Google Search Goes Agentic—and Doesn’t Need You Anymore | WIRED Meet the Sad Wives of AI | WIRED Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from the newest ventures to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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Why Is Meta In Crisis?; Google Search Is Over; AI Gets Booed by Graduates is an episode from Gadget Lab: Weekly Tech News by WIRED.

This episode is 39:59 long.

This episode was published on May 21, 2026.

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