The AIs are officially out of control | The Vergecast

The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss ChatGPT and Gemini updates, Walmart acquiring Vizio, Apple's Sports app, and more. #AI #Podcast #Technology
Show notes: trib.al/u2n2XkH
00:00 - Intro
01:38 - Google cuts deal with Reddit
16:54 - Google Gemini tried image creation
28:38 - ChatGPT had a stroke y'all
37:30 - Walmart buys Vizio
47:17 - Nilay complains about his Frame TV again
54:14 - Amazon Echo Hub
1:00:07 - Apple Sports app released
1:08:14 - Apple's post quantum cryptography for iMessage
1:11:15 - EV price wars heats back up
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[@kentslocum]

This brings up a good point; if AI large-language models are training on the internet, but if the internet is increasingly being generated by those same AI large-language models, then the internet is going to devolve even quicker. 😢

[@nym49]

51:19 "how you doin', buddy?" ... gotta love Alex 😅

[@garretthamlow]

13:24 I think Google is the big winner. They got a SCREAMING deal to be able to use Reddit data. It drives people to Google more than it drives people to Reddit, because Google can now just use Reddit answers in Gemini. I honestly think Reddit could have asked for much, much more and Google wouldn’t have blinked.

[@corylyon545]

Agreed, Reddit has had nearly 20yrs to figure out how to leverage its data. Google knows how to put ads and users together.

[@stairjoke]

~40:00 - Infinite growth is not possible and some companies have hit saturation. Also, do not underestimate the current economy.

[@kentslocum]

Disney is getting into sports betting with its NFL app, so the fact that Apple may be getting into gambling too is not really surprising. Still, it's another reason to unplug the internet.

[@santiarano]

Barcelona with the C is how it’s pronounced in Spanish. In catalan it’s pronounced with an S, both are correct, depends on which language you are trying to pronounce it.

[@TheJasonaut]

Good point on the EV stuff. Every article is about the downfall of that market and leans into 'no one wants an EV now', while it's really just a spot where the manufacturers absolutely HAVE to make more affordable EVs or the market WILL become permanently niche.

[@Lord_Reset]

Google already has Gemini mini and nano and Pro, could you not do that? Gemini open mini and Gemini open work reasonably well enough.

[@ferretgodowndahole3602]

1:19:20 One of these partner companies is the one that bought HBO then *renamed it* burying the most iconic prestige branding ever. If there are enough draws in the rock-paper-scissors matches between Iger and Zas, it could very well end up as ESPN Max.

[@unCoopervised]

Mellon? Did I miss a mob movie? 😂

[@alexbaytenov]

8:48 That was kinda ominous, lol

[@MattSwain1]

My issue when it comes to not buying an EV is definitely price because I could have had the gas powered equivalent vehicle a couple of years ago for waaaaay less but it’s also like spending a small fortune for what are all still first generation vehicles (yes I know Tesla has made EVs for quite a few years). My concern would be spending a load of money today on a car with problematic range, seeing it superseded by something much better 2 years from now and seeing all that money turn to dust because no one wants to pay good money for an out of date car. I’ll be watching and waiting for at least a few more years with my petrol car

[@SuprBestFriends]

Ok here is my idea. Artists make regular art --> that art is used to train a model for each artist --> artists can use the model they have for their work and make hand drawn art too. Then if anyone wants art in a specific style or creator they go to the artist. Then we scrub all creators art from the training data. Probably not practical but it’s an idea lol

[@GordonChaffin]

I like this because it's a world where Drake never retires and his kids use AI Drake to make Laser Bong ad infinitum to fund his estate.

[@SuprBestFriends]

@@GordonChaffin I agree but I think a few artists have already agreed to use their likeness in some contracts or something so their family can benefit. Maybe if we add better copy right laws we can cycle the art into the public domain once an artist has passed or a certain amount of time. Just ideas I’m bored this weekend lol

[@zacharyeversole]

I love that the chapter title is GEMINI creates images now, and it doesn’t anymore because they got trolled on by the whole internet lol. This probably was recorded before the last 3 days tho. But I haven’t gotten to that part of the cast yet so they might talk about how they’ve nuked it temporarily.

[@dyelon13]

23:30 I respectfully disagree with the core of Alex's argument here. I would argue that AI "art" is categorically inauthentic as the process of going from "prompt" or the idea to the final image is where the authenticity is created. A common argument I hear is that AI generation allows people who are untrained to participate in art making. As a prompter you are not the artist, you are acting as the customer of an artist, or the AI. At best these prompters are acting as an art director, giving suggestions to the machine until a suitable result is created for them. Especially in fan art communities, which have a rich history of fostering a passion for art making in young people, the value for both the artists and the audience is not just the final image, but the shared sense of community. The fact that someone was so inspired by another piece of art that they took it upon themselves to learn a new skill and contribute fosters a more rich human experience than endless, painfully bland and derivative works from people who couldn't be bothered. Using the machines to deny all of us art made from the love of creation is truly a net negative for society. We all had to start somewhere.

[@nexustri1146]

Shocking 😲 😂

[@huntercaron]

Its true i absolutely hate the Frame TV on/off/art toggling. its horrific

[@GSAproductions]

Nilay can you drill a hole in the frame where the sensor is?

[@izakshuvo8434]

Tiny slim LED might do the same thing instead of the BULK OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

[@KevinHorecka]

I'm really worried Google is going to make a reddit competitor and succeed. It could seed it with AI content and maintain quality automatically by selectively creating AI generated content. That content would, in my opinion, technically just be stolen from Reddit, but the user wouldn't know or care. Then they'll do the thing Google does and ruin it somehow, but they'll have created a strong "kill" signal to other small competing platforms that are struggling to get off the ground. So we'll be left with nothing.

[@andrewmlapointe]

I am hoping the og Reddit lovers have been planning for this and are able to poison the data

[@sullivan4052]

Nilay never returned the heinecube

[@KriLL325783]

David got replaced with AI for this episode?

[@thomasraven]

The problem with Reddit search results is that you still have to parse a lot of information to find an answer. I think Reddit really should have partnered with an AI developer to develop the Reddit summarizer that produces subject summaries based only on Reddit posts. Kind of like the review summaries on Amazon, but better. Selling their mountain of content at a low price is only a win for Google and it emphasizes how big a financial failure Reddit truly is.

[@corylyon545]

Google is an AI developer.

[@JamesKertchaval]

Anyone on the show an audiophile?

[@akshatkembhavi9837]

Me

[@expectationlost]

Google isn't paying to search reddit its paying to process its data for AI

[@nocturnus009]

Countdown to Mörbius (2022) & Madame Webb’s (2024) availability on Bravia Core.

[@dannyomo]

I don't think "Gemini" to "Gemma" was anything other than a shortening: Gemma - Ni.

[@Matthew-dp3hf]

I appreciate you having the transparency and bravery to share your opinion but I hope you are prepared to be confronted with the fact you're lacking well-roundedness with your thoughts about AI art. Like many things in life, generating a prompt can be seen as an art form, but the output of what that prompt gives you is not itself art. It is a generation. It is a machine trying to get the result it thinks you want. Nothing more.

[@bobcatshields]

Alex, I'm sorry but AI art is fundamentally inauthentic. It's not a person expressing their idea or interpretation of anything, it's just a machine deciding where to put pixels based on a prompt. Authentic art is communication, AI art is just output.

[@udaysingh9_11]

True

[@thanos879]

In my opinion, It depends. If someone comes up with a killer prompt. An original, very specific, imaginative prompt. I can respect it. The only problem is that the artists whose work the model was trained on don’t get any recognition or benefit. In my opinion as someone with no incentives related to it.

[@seangt]

anyone creating AI art and actually calling it art and having an intention is using hundreds of prompts and tweaking prompts to get the specific result they want. It's art. It's just a new tool.

[@bobcatshields]

@@seangt What you're describing sounds like a director. So then is the AI the artist or the editor? I don't think it can be the artist as it can't have it's own interpretation to communicate. If it's the editor then the real artists are the folks it's copying and I'd argue that the director would be better served just talking to them. Which if the AI can find them based on a prompt it should be able to allow the director to reach out to them which would be a really helpful tool.

[@chaithanyakashyap465]

Authentic art is people with real skills creating visual pleasure for several generations after them to enjoy...AI art is a cheap imitation of real skill and emotion. It is a novelty, real art is invaluable - compared to AI art, even the most dumbf*ck, talentless "artist" is miles apart. I hope AI "art" dies out like cheap plastic - I'm wishing this because, AI should've simply been an insignificant widget or an add-on at the edge of a screen somewhere, not something that took over the world and life itself completely, not something that would come in the way of human connections and interactions, not something that would encourage and make it easy to continue the already existing human excesses that have plagued this world...which had already been leeching the good out of this world, out of each other, from animals, the forests and mother earth...leaving nothing for the next person or a neighbour🤷🏻‍♂️ "Human-made" is going to be the next big the next big thing that will be in demand but which will stay, for the sake of all of us, for the sake of humanity and all that is goof in it, come to stay - and at last, good artists will get their due😊 Excesses reduce the value we have for each other and for everything around us that can't be replaced...wake up people, don't indulge too much in this AI B.S and don't hand them a big red button that could end it all !! Don't allow these people to make life harder, don't let them subject you to conditions - what they are doing is simply saying "do as I say, do as I do, or perish, if you don't know how to do what I tell you to, if you don't know how to do what I know, you don't deserve to exist" I'm not a doomsday-er or a luddite but I know trouble when I see it...and I can't be the only one who is seeing red when it comes to AI - even the big names are worried about it🤷🏻‍♂️

[@hunterwhite4394]

If the power is swinging, doesn't it seem like Apple is priming themselves to grab that pendulum with whatever AI they're planning?

[@iFish12]

Hello I’m google’s next transformer model Geoff

[@mbev1994]

I’m becoming more and more disappointed in this show’s discussions on AI. How did the hosts talk about the Reddit/Google deal and never mention the users? There are pictures of people on Reddit. The show just seems really company focused and not user focused if that makes sense. Plus their takes on AI art are bad. I wish they’d get a guest who is not a tech fan if they want to tackle an issue this contentious.

[@some______guy]

I this came to think of thisismynext. That was such a good name. You should have kept it

[@Chris-gm4hk]

38:11 Pointless blabbering and ramblings. 41:32 Succinctly describing the topic.

[@wa389]

I didn't make it through 10 minutes of this podcast over the rediculous pandering to Reddit.

[@SantoshKumar-qe6eq]

AI will prove to be a gimmick. But not bigger than the Metaverse.

[@ChongChenTong]

there is nothing wrong to produce an all white men image, if it is authentic. it should always value authenticity over political correctness. that is the reason i don't use Bard/ Gemeni. I decide how i want diversity based on my value, not AI. AI is a tool, it is not a ridiculous moral gatekeeper.