Our plan for this episode was to spend some time talking about antitrust regulation, because one of the biggest companies on the planet is currently in the midst of a trial that could fundamentally reshape the internet economy. And that was before Google lost its adtech trial! Two’s definitely a trend, in this case: Meta’s trial is just beginning, and we have a ruling in Google’s, but both companies are staring at a future that looks very different than the last 20 years.

On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge’s Alex Heath joins Nilay and David to talk through what the Google ruling means (with as little ad-tech talk as possible, we promise), as well as what it was like to be in the Meta courtroom all week. So far, the FTC’s case against Meta seems somewhat dubious, and might hinge a little too much on the power of MeWe. But that one is only just beginning, and there are many more questions about Instagram and WhatsApp still to come.

After that, we talk about some big news in the AI world. OpenAI is working on a social network, with plans to rival X and become the place people do… something. Post their ripoff photos? Make funny jokes with the help of ChatGPT? Express themselves in new, awesome, creative ways? Who knows. But OpenAI’s ambition knows no bounds, and the AI industry is coming for practically every other product you use.

Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy. We also talk about Allison Johnson’s investigation into the five-year-old camera everyone’s suddenly obsessed with, and why Microsoft wants to be all over the Switch 2.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Google and Meta:

And in AI news:

And in the lightning round: