Everybody wants to rule the AI world

The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

Tech News, Technology, News

4.3 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 100 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Musk v. OpenAI trial continues, which means so do the allegations and leaks surrounding some of the most influential people in tech. Nilay and David recount the most interesting and entertaining moments from the courtroom this week, before digging into what we've learned about when Sam Altman was fired. After that, the hosts discuss OpenAI's apparent plans to build a phone, which seem utterly necessary and utterly doomed, along with the new Fitbit Air and a truly strange new home robot. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for the Hype Desk, Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the Chinese company that wants to make everything, and the next big rebrand for xAI. Further reading: ⁠Internal Tech Emails on X: "Sam Altman texts Mira Murat⁠ ⁠We are going through the removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI in detail. ⁠ ⁠Toner is relating how Sam Altman’s firing happened. ⁠ ⁠Toner says she found out about ChatGPT by seeing screenshots on Twitter. ⁠ ⁠Zilis sent Altman a text message of support after his 2023 ouster. ⁠ ⁠Google’s taking a big swing at AI health with the Fitbit Air⁠ ⁠OpenAI is reportedly launching a phone for ChatGPT ⁠ ⁠The creator of Roomba is back with a furry robot companion ⁠ ⁠Inside Dreame’s wild launch event — packed with products no one can buy⁠ ⁠Dreame — the vacuum company — just ‘launched’ its own phones | The Verge⁠ ⁠Dreame’s rocket-powered car can do 0–60 in 0.9 seconds because you can just say things now⁠ ⁠A foldable iPhone dummy — on video. ⁠ ⁠Apple agrees to pay iPhone owners $250 million for not delivering AI Siri ⁠ ⁠DOJ assault on the NFL could end the Packers as we know them.⁠ ⁠Apple could let you pick a favorite AI model in iOS 27 ⁠ ⁠xAI is becoming SpaceXAI.⁠ ⁠Microsoft gives up on Xbox Copilot AI ⁠ ⁠Microsoft’s new Xbox shake-up is all about platform changes ⁠ ⁠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 ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠ or call us at 866-VERGE11. (Timestamps are approximate.) 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:00 Trial Discovery Era 00:06:00 Early OpenAI Origins 00:11:00 Elon Power Struggle 00:17:00 Altman Firing Texts 00:27:00 Why The Board Panicked 00:36:00 ChatGPT Phone Rumor 00:39:00 OpenAI Phone vs App Store 00:41:00 Why Apps Still Matter 00:44:00 Apple Siri Power Play 00:49:00 Apple Intelligence Lawsuit 00:53:00 Google Fitbit Air 00:57:00 Google Health Rebrand Backlash 01:01:00 Familiar Robot Pet Debate 01:10:00 Nintendo Star Fox Returns 01:12:00 Nintendo Weirdness Wins 01:15:00 Furry Overlap Discourse 01:16:00 Zach Gardening Surprise 01:21:00 Brendan Carr Broadband Fight 01:23:00 NFL Antitrust And Packers 01:29:00 Dreame Vaporware Parade 01:32:00 Rocket Car Reality Check 01:34:00 Elon Corporate Matryoshka 01:36:00 Xbox Ditches Copilot 01:37:00 Wrap Up And Schedule Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for today's show comes from Atio, the AI CRM for modern teams. Inside startups and major
0:07.7	companies, the tech world is obsessed with one thing right now, AI that knows your business. That's what
0:14.3	Atio, the AI CRM, is built for. Atio instantly builds your CRM with enriched data by connecting to your emails, calls,
0:23.0	and more. You can also ask Atio to prep for a meeting, spot what's at risk, or run research
0:29.0	on a prospect. That way, you'll know exactly what to focus on next. You can go to atio.com
0:36.0	slash Vergecast, and you'll get 15% off your first year.
0:40.6	That's a tt, I.O.com slash vergecast.
0:48.8	Support for this show comes from Clavio.
0:52.0	Imagine hiring two brilliant employees.
0:54.2	The first takes your marketing from idea to full campaign. This show comes from Clavio. Imagine hiring two brilliant employees.
1:02.4	The first takes your marketing from idea to full campaign, email, SMS, push, and the time it takes to describe it.
1:12.1	The second handles every customer conversation 24-7, answering questions, recommending products, handling orders, both on brand and always on.
1:21.4	Your next hires, Clavio's AI agents. Get started at K-L-A-V-I-O.com.
1:32.4	Support for the show comes from AWS. How much of your workday is actually work and how much is just hunting for information?
1:35.2	That's the problem Amazon Quick was built to solve.
1:40.4	Quick is an intelligent workplace assistant that connects all your systems, your documents, dashboards, Salesforce, Jira, Slack, email,
1:44.7	and gives you complete answers in seconds and turns them into action.
1:49.9	Create a deck, update a ticket, send a message right there in the conversation without switching tools.
1:56.5	It's AI that actually works the way you do.
1:59.5	Learn more at aWS.com slash quick.
2:07.9	Welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of Rando Twitch guys,
2:12.3	who sometimes become CEOs for five minutes.
	...

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