is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Here’s the tricky part about assessing an AI system’s deception rate: if the system is really good at deceiving you, you might not notice.
This week on The Vergecast, Adi Robertson and Alex Heath join me to discuss the launch of GPT-5 and GPT-OSS… and the strange charts we saw along the way. GPT-5 is a fascinating launch for OpenAI: one where the company is promising improvements across the board without any obvious new standout feature. It seems to have a big focus on developers and coding, but it could still meaningfully change how the average user experiences ChatGPT thanks to the long-awaited deprecation of the model switcher.
Next up, we discuss the impending age gating of the internet and whether there’s any going back. The UK has begun a widespread crackdown on websites with even a hint of inappropriate content, the EU is testing an age identification app, and more and more states across the US are passing laws requiring porn websites to verify that users are over 18. This could be a massive change to the internet, and it’s been hugely disruptive already.
Finally, the Lightning Round is… back? We discuss vibe graphing, mRNA vaccines, tariff price hikes, Google’s latest loss in court, and the Instagram Maps backlash.
If you want to read more about the stories we discussed, check out the links below.
- GPT-5 is being released to all ChatGPT users
- The 6 biggest changes coming to ChatGPT
- OpenAI releases a free GPT model that can run on your laptop
- Mark Zuckerberg promises you can trust him with superintelligent AI
- xAI’s new Grok image and video generator has a ‘spicy’ mode
- Grok’s ‘spicy’ video setting instantly made me Taylor Swift nude deepfakes
- Tim Cook says Apple ‘must’ figure out AI and ‘will make the investment to do it’
- Ready or not, age verification is rolling out across the internet
- The UK is now age-gating the internet
- The UK’s new age-gating rules are easy to bypass
- Reddit and Discord’s UK age verification can be defeated by Death Stranding’s photo mode
- The EU is testing a prototype age verification app
- Porn age-gating is the future of the internet, thanks to the Supreme Court
- The Supreme Court just upended internet law, and I have questions
- Google is using AI age checks to lock down user accounts
- RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts
- Epic just won its Google lawsuit again, and Android may never be the same
- Instagram adds a reposts feed and rips off Snap Maps
- OpenAI gets caught vibe graphing
- Nintendo raises the Switch 1 price from $299 to $339
- Fujifilm is raising camera prices by up to $800
- Apple says Trump’s tariffs are adding another $1 billion to its costs
- Sonos confirms tariffs will increase its prices this year
