TL;DR:
• The Verge staffers share real AI use cases beyond marketing hype
• Practical applications include parenting help, moving logistics, research assistance, and coding
• Honest assessment includes both successes and spectacular failures
• Industry still struggles to provide concrete examples of AI value
While tech companies promise AI will revolutionize everything, The Verge just delivered something more valuable: concrete examples of when AI tools actually help. In a candid new Vergecast episode, senior reviewer Victoria Song explores how journalists use AI for parenting, moving logistics, research assistance, and even coding tabletop gaming apps—cutting through the industry's vague promises to reveal practical applications that work.
The Verge just did what the entire AI industry hasn't managed: provide specific, useful examples of when artificial intelligence actually works. In a new Vergecast episode, senior reviewer Victoria Song sits down with fellow journalists to discuss their real-world AI experiences—and the results are refreshingly honest about both successes and failures.
The timing couldn't be better. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic continue pushing AI features with vague promises of transformation, actual users are left wondering what these tools are good for beyond generating mediocre text. "When you press them for examples, real, concrete examples of how those AI tools should be used, the answers tend to be lackluster," Song notes in the episode description.
The Verge's approach reveals something the industry desperately needs: specificity. Instead of broad claims about productivity gains, the journalists discuss tangible scenarios where AI proved genuinely helpful. Parents found AI useful for managing bedtime routines. Staff planning cross-country moves discovered AI could handle logistics research. Others used AI tools to supplement internet searches, though with the crucial caveat to "always double-check."
Perhaps most intriguingly, one staffer used AI to "vibe code" an app for tabletop role-playing games—a creative application that showcases AI's potential beyond traditional productivity tasks. This kind of specific, creative usage represents exactly what the industry has struggled to articulate.
[IMAGE: Screenshot of The Vergecast podcast interface showing the AI tools episode]
The candid discussion doesn't shy away from AI's limitations. Song explicitly mentions they "definitely get into the ways these tools fall short," providing the balanced perspective often missing from corporate AI presentations. This honesty from working journalists who test these tools professionally carries more weight than marketing materials from or .
