AI Drake, AI friends, AI everything

Today, things got a little loose in the studio of The Vergecast. Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding joins Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce to make their own version of Drake's AI summer classic. We're not saying a laser bong was involved, but we're not not saying that either.
Then deputy editor Alex Heath stops by to tell us about Snaps latest announcements and give us an update on the latest round of layoffs at Meta. And finally, a lightning round with all the big headlines in tech from this week.
Further reading:
AI Drake just set an impossible legal trap for Google: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
It’s a laser bong: www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23...
Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
What’s really going on with ‘Ghostwriter’ and the AI Drake song?: www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23...
Family of F1 legend Michael Schumacher plans legal action over fake AI interview: www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23...
Snapchat releases My AI chatbot to all users for free: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
Netflix is shutting down its original DVD business after 25 years: www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23...
Netflix is out of the DVD business because streaming won - now, can Netflix still win?: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from all legacy users: www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23...
SpaceX’s Starship successfully takes off before bursting into flames: www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23...
BuzzFeed News is being shut down: www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23...
Social media is doomed to die: www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23...
Google Fi has a new name and expanded connectivity support for smartwatches: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
Leak: Google will announce the Pixel Fold at I/O and beat Samsung on battery: www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23...
Everything spy movies get right (and wrong) about smart glasses: www.theverge.com/23678696/sma...
Microsoft is reportedly working on a smaller Surface Pro and Arm-powered Surface Go 4: www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23...
00:00 - Intro
00:00:51 - AI Drake with Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding
00:37:12 - Snap's announcements and chatbot reveal
00:54:47 - Google DeepMind and Brain combined
00:59:45 - Reddit, Elon, Microsoft, training data wars
1:07:46 - Lightning Round
The Vergecast Podcast: pod.link/430333725
Decoder with Nilay Patel: apple.co/3v29nDc
More about our podcasts: www.theverge.com/podcasts
Community guidelines: bit.ly/2D0hlAv

[@danielqcallahan]

I’ve been listening to The Vergecast for years, and this may be my favorite episode you’ve ever put out.

[@dopefrancis]

I’ve had “It’s a laser bong,
It’s a bong, there are lasers” stuck in my head all day. Certified banger.

[@AbbatyKori]

I’m soo happy the vergecast is back with video. The reactions. OMG 🤣🤣

[@DennyLewis]

Same, here

[@coreyphall]

Appreciate that the show dropped earlier this morning!

[@lil_sebastian13]

13:50 It’s a laser bong 🎶

[@ErikLucas]

Imma need that Laser Bong as a sound in a YT shorts right this minute 😂

[@TheVergecast]

Haha, ok you got it!

[@ErikLucas]

@@TheVergecast this is the way

[@MrMohit1562]

Vergecast is more fun as a video podcast

[@coreyphall]

5:51 my favorite part of The Vergecast video edition is the random employees doing their jobs in the background 😂

[@imdavidpierce]

That's Liam and Andrew, our producers!

[@coreyphall]

@@imdavidpierce then not so random but just as enjoyable!

[@CrisCrunch]

The Vergecast is good for you.

[@NMojovic]

That was delightful #content Kudos to whole team and especially Alex, she has become true Vergcast star!

[@moramento22]

Just came from the audio podcast and I had to come here, I had to see your reactions, lol

[@nym49]

Scissor vodka and the laser bong. So much potential for a banger.

[@GravedSanctuary]

I want to know how fanfiction community reacts to this AI stuff more. There are giant databases that are easily scraped, full of creative writing. Spacebattles/Ao3/RoyalRoad - all have billions of words, and tagging them is pretty easy to make that data work for AI.

[@nerdyoldgeek]

Love the video Vergecast. More please!

[@MaschedAkil]

Does anyone know how to find the documentary of Lauren Rush(?) that Nilay mentioned at the end of this episode?

[@reckless1280]

I got you ua-cam.com/video/V9yAOKLxzko/v-deo.html

[@NaeemTHM]

Please make Laser Bong the new intro! I don’t care what the legal repercussion is!

[@garretthamlow]

The lazer bong rap slapppsssssss

[@Gilamath.]

I can’t get it out of my head. Why is it so good

[@garretthamlow]

@@Gilamath. hahaha same!!

[@yathi]

I already heard this on audio but I am going to see the video too! This was so funny! :D

[@AdamTyree]

Ayyyyyy, Charlie!!

[@lasertreesx]

My money is on Apple. I think part of why Siri hasn’t really changed at all is that Apple is working on a sophisticated AI version. Is there a ton of value added by making incremental updates to an assistant tool? I’d argue no. The next leap is really where the $$$ will be.

[@Gilamath.]

That’s one possibility, and I admit it’s at least plausible. But another, more likely possibility is that Apple might not be that great at AI and LLMs, and the tension between privacy and assistant functionality is significant enough a roadblock to internal development that it’s slowing down everyone working on anything remotely Siri within the company

[@AndrewMastracchio]

Absolutely incredible

[@NelsLindahl]

Oh dear... Nilay cannot have the sound board go forward...

[@tipoomaster]

AI Vergecast

[@tstartrekdude]

Paul

[@Sankcool]

first carplay, then dr. seuss… nilay’s creating his own conspiracy radicalization pipeline and im here for it

[@reckless1280]

FAUCI DOESNT WANT YOU TO KNOW SUESS IS GPT