Our hottest takes on AI’s wild summer

There’s a lot happening in the world of artificial intelligence. There is always a lot happening in the world of artificial intelligence. The money is enormous; the stakes are high; the products are, well, all over the place. Sit on your couch and read about it all long enough, and you’re bound to feel some strong feelings. On this episode of The Vergecast, we get into some of those feelings. But first, David and Jake catch up on the week’s remaining gadget news. In addition to all the Apple gadgets we discussed on Wednesday’s episode, there’s also the fact that the new AirPods Pro 3 don’t ship with a charging cable, a smart rebuttal to our bad takes on the crossbody strap, and some interesting (and orange!) new Beats headphones lurking. We also wonder what happened to Daily Hub, and what that “Talk” button might mean on Nothing’s next earbuds. Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field joins the show to hear out some of David’s hottest takes and biggest feelings on all things AI. (Shoutout to the great Subway Takes for the inspiration.) The gang debates the merits of AI friends, the phrase “ChatGPT told me,” and how we’re supposed to think about the way money moves through the AI business. Finally, in the lightning round — yes, once again the LIGHTNING round — we talk through the rest of the week’s tech news, from Spotify Lossless to the looming HBO Max price hike to whatever is happening with MechaHitler. There’s a lot going on. And maybe still some thunder. If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first in gadget news: * Apple isn’t packing a charging cable in with the AirPods Pro 3 * Apple’s misunderstood crossbody iPhone strap might be the best I’ve seen * Apple says the iPhone 17 comes with a massive security upgrade * New Beats earbuds leak hours before Apple’s big event * Nothing’s Ear 3 earbuds have a microphone and ‘talk’ button on their charging case * ‘Google pulls the Pixel 10’s Daily Hub to ‘enhance its performance’ And in all things AI: * OpenAI reportedly signs $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle * ChatGPT chief Nick Turley doesn’t want you too attached to AI * Sam Altman says ‘yes,’ AI is in a bubble * ChatGPT is bringing back 4o as an option because people missed it * From The New York Times: A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. * From Rest of World: AI chatbots are becoming lifelines for China’s sick and lonely And in the lightning round: * Spotify adds lossless streaming after 8 years of teasing * David Zaslav thinks HBO Max is ‘way underpriced’ * Anthropic’s Claude can now make you a spreadsheet or slide deck. * Canon is bringing back a point-and-shoot from 2016 with fewer features and a higher price (it’s viral * Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits * Reddit is testing a way to read articles without leaving the app * Anthropic’s Claude can now make you a spreadsheet or slide deck.