About this podcast

In this urgent episode of The Vergecast, hosts Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce are joined by policy reporter Makena Kelly, live from Washington D.C. Makena provides an unfiltered account of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's contentious hearing with TikTok's CEO, detailing the heated debate and lawmakers' strong stance on a potential ban. The discussion uncovers the government's core concerns regarding foreign influence and data privacy, contrasting them with the lack of concrete evidence presented. Later, the podcast pivots to the rapidly evolving AI landscape, covering Google's launch of Bard and OpenAI's expansion of ChatGPT, offering first impressions and exploring the implications of these new technologies.