AI can

AI can't even turn on the lights | The Vergecast

October 17, 2025 • 101m 7s View Original ↗The Verge ↗

Nilay’s back! And you can listen to The Vergecast with no ads, if you’re a Verge subscriber! Big week, really. Nilay and David start the show by talking about ads, podcasts, platforms, and subscriptions. Then they talk a bunch about Apple’s new M5-powered MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pro, and whether a chip bump is worth getting excited about. After that, Nilay reflects on a summer of using AI products, and explains why you can tell the whole story of this generation of AI just by talking about the smart home. Finally, in the lightning round, the hosts talk about AI song covers, Apple TV, TiVo, Roku, Cybertrucks, and the exploding Pixel 10 Pro Fold. #Vergecast #Podcast #Technology 0:00 Nilay Returns! 03:02 Tech Upgrades and Smart Home Adventures 10:59 Ad-Free Podcasts and Subscription Insights 18:45 Apple's New Product Announcements 32:47 The Future of Augmented Reality 34:21 Technological Hurdles in AR Development 35:19 Concerns About Privacy and Content Moderation 40:11 The AI Bubble and Financial Implications 42:10 Limitations of LLMs in Smart Home Assistants 45:50 Challenges in AI and Smart Home Integration 48:32 The Reality of AI in Consumer Products 50:05 The Disconnect Between AI Hype and Reality 56:35 The Struggle of Major Tech Companies with AI 01:04:02 User Frustrations with AI and Smart Home Devices 01:07:07 The Future of AI in Everyday Life 01:09:01 OpenAI's Guardrails and Mature Content 01:09:41 Sam Altman's Clarification on X 01:10:30 AI Girlfriends and the Sticky Business 01:13:26 The Slippery Slope of Content Moderation 01:14:34 AI-Generated Content and Its Implications 01:17:18 The Lightning Round 01:18:29 AI-Generated Music and Cultural Appropriation 01:23:13 Streaming Services and Branding Decisions 01:27:25 The End of TiVo and TV Hardware Innovations 01:32:11 Tesla Cybertruck Sales and Controversies 01:34:35 Pixel 10 Pro Fold Drama 01:39:20 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc Subscribe to The Verge: https://bit.ly/3FT6n5S Subscribe to The Vergecast on YouTube, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: https://bit.ly/3I6nJtz If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-state...

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