The Vergecast turns Elon Musk’s OpenAI trial testimony into a case study in how power evaporates under cross-examination, then widens into a sharper critique of AI’s shaky consumer appeal and the tech industry’s habit of mistaking compulsion for affection. Along the way, the hosts tour Microsoft and OpenAI’s retreat from the AGI fantasy, Brendan Carr’s latest FCC overreach, and a pile of gadgets that may or may not deserve Nilay Patel’s attention.

David Pierce revisits the Rabbit R1 and finds that, while the standalone AI gadget still cannot replace a phone, its stripped-down voice recorder and note-taking tools have made it unexpectedly handy. The show then turns to the OpenAI-Elon Musk courtroom circus and Framework’s increasingly polished vision for repairable laptops, treating both as tests of how the tech industry is maturing, or failing to.

The Vergecast crew sifts through Tim Cook’s quieter wins and cul-de-sacs at Apple, from the surprise staying power of AirPods to the dead ends that never made it past a keynote demo.