The Vergecast What $200 of ChatGPT is really worth
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Feb 11, 2025 
Join Kylie Robison, an AI reporter at The Verge renowned for her in-depth analysis, and Liz Lopato, tech reporter specializing in Elon Musk's ventures. They dive into ChatGPT's costly new features—Operator and deep research—and weigh their worth for users. The conversation shifts to Musk’s influence on Dogecoin and the government's inner workings. Both guests highlight the intertwining of AI and politics while sharing their mixed feelings about technology’s reliability and impact on research.
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OpenAI's Rapid Release Cycle
- OpenAI is rapidly shipping features due to competition and pressure to increase valuation.
- They're responding to DeepSeek and other competitors by accelerating launches.
Tariff Query Crash
- Kylie Robison's tariff query crashed deep research multiple times initially.
- OpenAI promptly fixed the issue after receiving feedback, showcasing responsiveness.
Balancing Speed and Accuracy
- Longer inference time compute allows models to reason better, but also makes them slower.
- Balancing speed and accuracy is a challenge, especially for expensive tools that still make mistakes.