The Vergecast

Did you see Ring's Super Bowl ad and see happy puppies reunited with their owners? Or did you see the seeds of a complete, always-on surveillance nightmare coming for us all? David and Nilay discuss which is the right answer, why so many people don't want to trust tech companies, and why Ring might not care much about the difference. After that, the hosts discuss the ads coming to ChatGPT, the surprising number of AI executives quitting their jobs and issuing dire warnings on the way out, and the fake ad for OpenAI gadgets. In the lightning round, it's time for an extra long Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest Ferrari EV, the future of Siri, and more.

Further reading:

Jeffrey Epstein’s digital cleanup crew 

Jeffrey Epstein might not have created /pol/, but he helped carry out its mission

Amazon Ring’s lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance 

Wyze is sticking it to Ring

Sen. Markey calls on Amazon to “discontinue” Ring monitoring features

Ring’s new Search Party feature is on by default; should you opt out?

Ring launches upgraded cameras with Retinal Vision 4K recording

What the Guthrie case reveals about your ‘deleted’ doorbell footage 

FBI releases recovered footage from Nancy Guthrie’s Nest cam 

OpenAI’s first hardware slips to 2027

OpenAI’s supposedly ‘leaked’ Super Bowl ad with ear buds and a shiny orb was a hoax 

Two more xAI co-founders are among those leaving after the SpaceX merger 

OpenAI reportedly disbanded its Mission Alignment team

OpenAI fired exec who opposed ‘adult mode’ 

Read an Anthropic AI safety lead's exit letter: 'The world is in peril'

Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw.

 What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either

ChatGPT’s cheapest options now show you ads 

Here are the brands bringing ads to ChatGPT 

Claude gets more free features to capitalize on ChatGPT ads

Ex-OpenAI researcher has “deep reservations” about its approach to ads

Brendan Carr is a Dummy theme submitted by Michiel Vanhoudt on BlueSky

FTC says it’s ‘not the speech police’ in letter warning Apple News about its alleged promotion of left-leaning outlets

Ferrari’s first EV will have an interior designed by Jony Ive 

Here’s what the Ferrari Luce’s buttons, switches, and knobs sound like.

The early reviews of the Rivian R2 are starting to roll in

Live Nation’s monopoly trial is reportedly fracturing Trump’s Justice Department 

YouTube is coming to the Apple Vision Pro

Apple keeps hitting bumps with its overhauled Siri 

The iPhone 17e could launch soon with MagSafe and an A19 chip 

Apple might let you use ChatGPT from CarPlay 

Paramount ups its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, again

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The Trump Phone is real! Ish! The Verge’s Dom Preston has seen a T1 on a video call, that we can say for sure. Dom joins the show to explain what’s new about the phone, whether it has a chance to be a decent device, and why it’s taken so long for Trump Mobile to ship the thing. After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field explains the excitement around OpenClaw and Moltbook, and whether either one is a big moment for the AI industry. Finally, The Verge’s Andy Hawkins helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11) about whether, and when, Tesla might get out of the car business altogether.

Further reading:

This is the Trump Phone⁠

⁠The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America⁠

⁠600,000 Trump Mobile phones sold? There’s no proof.⁠

⁠OpenClaw: all the news about the trending AI agent ⁠

⁠OpenClaw’s AI ‘skill’ extensions are a security nightmare

⁠There’s a social network for AI agents, and it’s getting weird

⁠Humans are infiltrating the social network for AI bots

⁠Tesla discontinuing Model S and Model X to make room for robots⁠

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A new tranche of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails makes one thing painfully clear: Epstein was a central figure in the lives of a lot of big names in tech, and had influence on a surprising number of companies and executives. David and Nilay talk through what we’ve learned from the new emails so far. Then they turn to Anthropic’s spicy new Super Bowl ads about... ads, which caused a big reaction from OpenAI (which is betting big on ads). They also discuss this week’s antitrust hearing about Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros., the latest in Brendan Carr is a Dummy, Google Home’s big buttons upgrade, and much more.

Further reading:

Here's how Epstein broke the internet

Former Windows 8 boss recruited Epstein to help negotiate his messy Microsoft exit

Jeffrey Epstein arranged a meeting with Tim Cook for the former head of Windows

The Epstein files 

Google co-founder Sergey Brin visited Epstein’s private island and traded emails with Ghislaine Maxwell.

It turns out Elon Musk didn’t exactly ‘refuse’ the invite to Jeffrey Epstein’s island. 

Will Elon Musk’s emails with Jeffrey Epstein derail his very important year? 

Bill Gates says accusations contained in Epstein files are ‘absolutely absurd'

Jeffrey Epstein was permanently banned from Xbox Live 

‘We’ve basically funded an elite global pedophile ring since 2015.’ 

Anthropic says ‘Claude will remain ad-free,’ unlike an unnamed rival

Anthropic’s blog post: Claude is a space to think

Sam Altman responds to Anthropic’s ‘funny’ Super Bowl ads 

OpenAI’s CMO on X

Nvidia CEO denies he’s ‘unhappy’ with OpenAI


Netflix lands in the middle of a culture war during Senate hearing

Everyone is stealing TV 

Disney says Josh D’Amaro will replace Bob Iger as CEO 

FCC aims to ensure “only living and lawful Americans” get Lifeline benefits

Elon Musk is merging SpaceX and xAI to build data centers in space — or so he says 

Peloton’s gamble on expensive new hardware has yet to pay off

Google Home finally adds support for buttons 

Raspberry Pi is raising prices again as memory shortages continue 

Valve’s Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing 

Aluminium: Why Google’s Android for PC launch may be messy and controversial

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. 
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AI companies want all the data, everywhere, to make their models bigger and better. That means a lot of questions about piracy and copyright, and at least in one case it means Anthropic systematically destroying countless books just to feed them to the model. The Washington Post's Will Oremus joins the show to explain how that worked, why Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI and others are doing it, and what the law has to say. Then, Puck's Julia Alexander helps David figure out whether Netflix is serious about showing movies in theaters, and what theaters need to do to survive in the entertainment business going forward.

Further reading:

From The Washington Post: Anthropic ‘destructively’ scanned millions of books to build Claude

Anthropic wins a major fair use victory for AI — but it’s still in trouble for stealing books

Meta’s AI copyright win comes with a warning about fair use

Did AI companies win a fight with authors? Technically

From Puck: Why Netflix Needs Warner Bros.

Welcome to the big leagues, Netflix

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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We've been covering what's happening in Minnesota, and the killing of Alex Pretti, all week on The Verge. To begin this episode, Nilay explains why — and why so many others seem to feel the same way right now. After that, the hosts talk about the CEO-studded screening of Melania Trump's documentary last weekend, the disastrous public appearance from Tim Cook, and whether Cook and other CEOs have any other option but to capitulate to the Trump administration. Then it's time for some gadgets: we talk about the super-foldy, super-expensive Samsung Galaxy  Z Trifold, the Clawdbot / Moltbot phenomenon, and whether Google can finally put Chrome OS and Android together the right way. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, Tesla's anti-car pivot, Apple's design hires, and more.

Further reading:

On the ground in Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Pretti 

I grew up with Alex Pretti 

Creators and communities everywhere take a stand against ICE 

It doesn’t matter if Alex Pretti had a gun 

Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking? 

Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, and AMD CEO Lisa Su are at the White House for a VIP screening of the Melania doc.

Tim Cook had ‘a good conversation’ with Trump about deescalation 

Cook in 2020: Speaking up on racism

From The New York Times: Amazon’s $35 Million ‘Melania’ Promotion Has Critics Questioning Its Motives

From The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Melania’ Set for a $3 Million Opening Despite Amazon’s $35 Million Marketing Push

Here’s Tim Cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening

What TikTok’s new owners mean for your feed 

TikTok USA is broken 

TikTok is still down, here are all the latest updates 

TikTok is still struggling in the US due to a “cascading systems failure.” 

TikTok US is mostly back up and running 

TikTok blames its US problems on a power outage 

Oracle admits it broke TikTok.

Congress doesn’t seem to know if the TikTok deal complies with its law 

Is New TikTok banning the word “Epstein” in DMs? Not really. 

TikTokers are heading to UpScrolled following US takeover 

Mark Zuckerberg is all in on AI as the new social media 

Meta is stopping teens from chatting with its AI characters 

Bluesky is testing ‘live’ features to take on X 

Best gas masks

The Samsung Trifold will cost nearly three grand 

Google just leaked a first look at Android for PC in action 

Chromebooks train schoolkids to be loyal customers, internal Google document suggests 

Moltbot, the AI agent that ‘actually does things,’ is tech’s new obsession


Clawdbot’s bad day 

I used Claude to vibe-code my wildly overcomplicated smart home

The FCC’s Late Night Comedy Show

Tesla discontinuing Model S and Model X to make room for robots 

Tesla says production-ready Optimus robot is coming soon 

Tesla hits a grim milestone: its second straight year of decline

Elon Musk invests $2 billion in Elon Musk

Hang on, there’s a Trump Phone Ultra coming too? 

Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With is joining Apple’s design team 

The Stream Deck-packed gaming keyboard is a monster of good ideas

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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