The AI is in the computer

Podcasts Gadgets Tech The AI is in the computer On The Vergecast: Alexa Tablets, Googlebooks, HomePads, and other ideas.

On The Vergecast: Alexa Tablets, Googlebooks, HomePads, and other ideas.

David Pierce Oct 9, 2026, 3:10 PM UTC Link Share Gift David Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. It’s gadget season, and a lot of companies are launching a lot of new products. But whether it’s Microsoft dropping a high-end laptop , Amazon shipping a fancy Android tablet , or Apple diving headlong into the smart home, the actual strategy appears to be almost always the same. All these companies believe AI assistants and agents are the future of computing, and they’re building devices that put them front and center.

On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay dig into all this new hardware to figure out whether any of it has the right take on AI. (Or if “the AI should run the computer” is even the right idea in the first place.) They discuss Amazon’s ambitions to be a maker of great hardware, Microsoft’s powerful new take on Surface , and even whether Googlebooks can be the AI-centric future of laptops.

After all the hardware talk, it’s time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some talk about the Paramount / Warner acquisition and what it means for the streaming landscape, the dream of “ intelligent UI ,” and more.

In case you missed it this week: We also talked about vibe-coded apps , our relationships with AI agents , the state of the headphone market , and lessons from a year of Alexa Plus . And we want to hear all your thoughts about all of it! Call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, send us an email at vergecast@theverge.com, and tell us everything that’s on your mind. And make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!

P.S., We’d love for you to vote for us in the Signal Awards! Thanks in advance.

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Fuente: The Verge