Google is dying. Google is unstoppable. Somehow, right now, it feels like both of those things are true. For the first time in more than a decade, there appear to be products that might actually threaten Google Search as the centerpiece of the web — including OpenAI’s new SearchGPT. And yet Google Search continues to dominate the market and make truly unfathomable amounts of money.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss the launch of SearchGPT, Google’s latest earnings, and the increasingly brazen ways AI companies are scraping the web for their own purposes. Who will win the future of search is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for sure: the way the web used to work doesn’t work anymore. We need new rules, new norms, and new ideas about how the internet ought to be.
After that, we talk through yet another big week in gadget news, including the revelation that Amazon’s Alexa project is a money pit of epic proportions. We also talk about our reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Ring and Z Fold 6, and the Asus ROG Ally X.
Finally, in the lightning round, we talk about Apple Maps on the web, the NBA on Prime Video, and the increasing lengths to which you have to go to stream in 4K. The future is ads, apparently — and slightly blurry ones, at that.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with the future of search:
- OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engineBing’s AI redesign shoves the usual list of search results to the sideReddit is now blocking major search engines and AI bots — except the ones that payGoogle had a massive quarter thanks to Search and AIAnthropic’s crawler is ignoring websites’ anti-AI scraping policiesThe text file that runs the internet
And on the gadgets and reviews of the week:
- Amazon’s paid Alexa is coming to fill a $25 billion hole dug by Echo devicesThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a great phone that’s out of ideasAsus ROG Ally X review: the best Windows gaming handheld by a mileSamsung Galaxy Ring review: keeping you in Samsung’s orbitGoogle’s next streaming player looks nothing like the Chromecast
And in the lightning round:
- Jake Kastrenakes’s pick: Apple Maps launches on the web to take on GoogleDavid Pierce’s pick: The NBA’s new TV deals put a lot of games on Amazon’s Prime Video starting in 2025Nilay Patel’s pick: The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is now availableNilay’s other pick: Rivian CEO says CarPlay isn’t going to happen
