The Vergecast discusses Apple M5, smart home assistants, AI song covers
The Vergecast kicks off with a blunt line: “AI can’t even turn on the lights.” It’s a hook that sends us spiraling from Apple’s soon-to-arrive M5 chip to the everyday grind of smart speakers, then on to a wave of AI-made song covers. Nilay pops back on the show, bristling with ideas about where this tech really sits in our homes. The M5 is billed to boost processing power, yet the hosts point out that a lot of voice-controlled gadgets still fumble on the simplest commands.
That opening quote feels like a reminder that many assistants are still missing the mark on basic tasks. Soon the chat flips to music, where AI tools are cranking out cover versions faster than we can keep up. We weigh the novelty against the actual quality, and the sheer volume of AI songs starts to raise questions about creativity and licensing.
By the time we wrap, the sense is clear: the buzz around AI hardware and software needs to be measured against what actually works in a living-room today.
AI can’t even turn on the lights On The Vergecast: Apple’s M5, the state of smart home assistants, and a boom in AI song covers. On The Vergecast: Apple’s M5, the state of smart home assistants, and a boom in AI song covers. On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay rejoins the show full of thoughts about the current state of AI — particularly after spending a summer trying to get his smart home to work.
But before we get to that, we talk about our new ad-free podcast option, which launched this week! (If you’re a subscriber, go to your account settings to find the feeds for all of our shows.) We also talk about Apple’s new M5-powered MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro, and wonder how big a deal a chip bump really is. After that, it’s time to talk AI.
We talk about the state of AI assistants, which are clearly the killer consumer app for LLMs, and which no one can build particularly well yet.
We wrap up with a plain reminder that the buzz around generative AI often runs ahead of what works day-to-day. Apple’s M5 chip, billed as a step forward, ends up next to smart-home assistants that still fumble with simple tasks like turning a light on. Listeners kept hearing the same line: large language models are being shoved into every slot, yet many of those slots feel empty.
The flood of AI-generated song covers shows how fast a novelty can become background noise, especially when the tech can’t reliably follow basic commands. There is progress, sure, but it’s unclear whether the gains are enough to make smart-home interactions feel seamless. As the hosts pointed out, the gap between AI promises and actual performance is still wide enough to keep skeptics watching.
The chat leaves more questions than answers about how soon these tools might become truly useful in everyday life in the near future.
Further Reading
- What the new Apple M5 iPad Pro means for smart homes - IoT News
- Apple unleashes M5, the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon - Apple Newsroom
- Apple M5 Chip Redefines AI Performance across Devices - CIO Bulletin
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Common Questions Answered
What specific example does The Vergecast use to illustrate the limitations of current smart home assistants?
The Vergecast uses the simple command 'turn on the lights' as a key example, noting that many voice-controlled devices still stumble on this basic task. This frames their discussion about the gap between AI hype and its day-to-day reliability in the home.
According to the article, what is the central claim about AI's capabilities that frames The Vergecast discussion?
The central claim framing the discussion is the provocative statement 'AI can’t even turn on the lights.' This line introduces a critical conversation about the practical shortcomings of AI, even as technologies like the Apple M5 chip promise more processing power.
How does the article connect the boom in AI-generated song covers to the broader theme of the episode?
The surge in AI song covers is presented as an illustration of how quickly AI novelty can become normalized and potentially fall short of expectations. This connects to the episode's sober reminder that generative AI hype often outpaces its practical, reliable applications.
What is Nilay's perspective on AI based on his personal experience discussed in the article?
Nilay rejoins the show full of thoughts about the current state of AI, particularly after spending a summer trying to get his own smart home to work reliably. His experience informs the critique that AI technology often fails to deliver on its promises in everyday settings.