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WIRED Casts Patti Harrison as Musk, Altman, Amodei, Zuckerberg, and the Bezoses

September 21, 2026 at 13:08 EDT

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WIRED opened its WIRED Women issue on September 21, 2026, by putting comedian and actor Patti Harrison on the cover as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos - and, in a sixth turn, as Lauren Sánchez Bezos beside him. The package's claim is that the industry can name its most powerful men at once, and still cannot agree on a woman.

Sep 21, 2026 · Women in tech

One comedian. Six faces of power.

Patti Harrison is pictured as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos - and as Lauren Sanchez Bezos beside him. The package asks why those men are instant names, and the women who help run the industry are not.

Magazine covers, 1993 through a 2010 count

70 covers with men. 4 that honored women.

Each block is two covers. Taller means more. This count stops in 2010; it is not a census of today's covers.

Covers with at least one man

Covers that honored women for their work

The new issue is an argument about that gap: men became the default picture of genius.

634

Women in tech asked about AI, bias, and daily treatment

$73.6B

2025 US venture dollars to female-founded or cofounded startups

27.7%

Their share of total US venture deal value that year

What the portraits underline

Some viewers call the six-role transformation sharp satire, not a tribute.

Gwynne Shotwell helped build SpaceX into an $800 billion business before its 2026 IPO.

Daniela Amodei: do not let AI become a tool just for the guys. The leadership team reports to her.

What complicates the cheer

Three months of asking produced no consensus most powerful woman.

The $73.6 billion record includes male cofounders. Anthropic and Scale AI took a huge share, and the deal count for women fell.

Timnit Gebru says AI is worse for women than tech in the 2010s, and that joining it is not the same as power.

The line she wants the industry to hear

Do not let AI become a tool just for the guys.

Who said it

Daniela Amodei, cofounder and president of Anthropic

Who reports to her

The leadership team. She calls it a two-person ship with her brother.

Who stays the face

Dario Amodei remains the public voice, including on politics

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