We’ve spent the last month vibe coding our own corners of the internet. The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Hayden Field join David to talk about their use of Gemini, Codex, and Claude Code to build 90s-themed personal websites, vegetable-sharing systems, and photo boards. It wasn’t always easy, and we didn’t get everything done, but with a little AI and a lot of prompting, we made it work.
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You have questions. We have (some) answers! For this week’s hotline episode, Travis Larchuk asks David your questions about E Ink-ish screens, federated messaging, minimalist phones, AI wearables, and what we got wrong about wide foldables. And don’t forget, you can always call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com to get your questions in about anything and everything. Bonus points if it involves popping your two collars.
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Our friend Ryan Broderick over at Garbage Day thinks so. I hadn’t thought about it this way before, but it’s interesting! In a good piece about the whole “Hank Green uses AI” kerfuffle, Broderick diagnoses the problem thusly:
I’d go so far as to say that without social media — or, rather, the need to compulsively post on social media, to be digitally productive — there’d be almost no reason for generative AI to exist at all… the unspoken anxiety driving the feeling that you must always be making stuff is a fear that you are simply not doing enough.
[Garbage Day]
Everyone in AI is talking about open-weight models right now. Some see them as the ticket to faster, more efficient development; others see them as an economic threat; they’re either a security risk or the only security solution, depending who you ask. The Verge’s Robert Hart explains how open-weight models work, why they’re suddenly at the center of discussions about AI safety, and whether the only way to stop a bad guy with AI is a good guy with AI.
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For the last few years, the trend in wearables has been all about screens. As many of them as possible. But now, companies like Whoop, Fitbit, and Garmin are creating new products that ditch the display entirely. The Verge’s Victoria Song explains why no-screen is the new screen, why even the most quantified athletes might not want a display on their wrist, and whether Whoop and the Whoop dupes are a sign of a broader trend.
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This not a brand-new way of thinking about what we should and shouldn’t offload to AI, but I hadn’t seen it before. From Bruce Schneier:
The writing assignments I give my students are gym tasks, not work tasks. I ask them to write policy memos not because the world needs more policy memos. I assign them because the very act of writing, which includes thinking and outlining and drafting and editing, making and criticizing and revising arguments, will help develop the critical thinking skills they will need in their future careers. And without this constant mental exercise, those skills will atrophy. Employers are already noticing.
[Schneier on Security]