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.

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
• Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: report
• What’s really going on with ‘Ghostwriter’ and the AI Drake song?
• Family of F1 legend Michael Schumacher plans legal action over fake AI interview
• Snapchat releases My AI chatbot to all users for free
• Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team
• Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: report
• Netflix is shutting down its original DVD business after 25 years
• Netflix is out of the DVD business because streaming won – now, can Netflix still win?
• Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from all legacy users
• It’s a laser bong
• SpaceX’s Starship successfully takes off before bursting into flames
• BuzzFeed News is being shut down
• Social media is doomed to die
• Google Fi has a new name and expanded connectivity support for smartwatches
• Leak: Google will announce the Pixel Fold at I/O and beat Samsung on battery
• Everything spy movies get right (and wrong) about smart glasses
• Microsoft is reportedly working on a smaller Surface Pro and Arm-powered Surface Go 4

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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