Kara and Scott discuss Taylor Swift effect on Super Bowl ads and the new special counsel report on Biden's age and memory. They also talk about Disney's blockbuster earnings and investment in Epic Games. Guests Zoe Schiffer and Kurt Wagner provide insights on Elon Musk's Twitter and the battle for Twitter's soul.

Today on the flagship podcast of wanting to smooch your laptop:01:23 - The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, Adi Robertson, and James Vincent discuss the flaws with Microsoft's Bing AI, and why it can be an "emotionally manipulative liar."34:56 - Platformer managing editor Zoë Schiffer joins to explain why Twitter is showing everyone all of Elon Musk's tweets.50:33 - The crew discuss YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stepping down after nine years at the helm.Further reading: Microsoft’s Bing is an emotionally manipulative liar, and people love it   AI search engines are not your friends These are Microsoft’s Bing AI secret rules and why it says it’s named Sydney Microsoft says talking to Bing for too long can cause it to go off the rails The Supreme Court could be about to decide the legal fate of AI search Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo From Bing to Sydney (Stratechery) A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled (The New York Times) Seeing other people’s AI art is like hearing other people’s dreams Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first  Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it  Twitter is just showing everyone all of Elon Musk’s tweets now Elon Musk says Twitter should be ready for new CEO by end of year YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down after nine years at the helm  The maze is in the mouse (Praveen Seshadri) Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: practically peerless Razer Blade 18 review: the price is going up  Tesla recalls 362,758 vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta for ‘crash risk’ Mazda MX-30 electric SUV review: a perfect storm of range anxiety  Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge Less money and more fear: what’s going on with tech Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle? Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call our Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple has had a lot going on lately: we did a whole episode about the controversial child protection photo scanning features, which have now been delayed. A law in South Korea might force the company to change how App Store payments work; the company settled a Japanese case about the App Store recently, as well as a class-action lawsuit in this country. The verdict in the Epic trial will arrive and there are renewed questions about Apple’s relationship with the Chinese government. And, of course, it’s September — the month when new iPhones usually come out.But in the background, Verge senior reporter Zoë Schiffer has spent the past few months publishing story after story about unhappy Apple employees, who are starting to talk to the press more and more about what working at Apple is like, and how they’d like it to change. Nilay Patel talks to Zoë about the work she's been doing and what the future holds.Links:Here’s why Apple’s new child safety features are so controversial https://bit.ly/3n9E07WApple delays controversial child protection features after privacy outcry https://bit.ly/38QdWX2Apple and Google must allow developers to use other payment systems, new Korean law declares https://bit.ly/3BQeXebApple concedes to let apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Kindle link to the web to sign up https://bit.ly/3kT88SgEpic Games v. Apple: the fight for the future of the App Store https://bit.ly/3ySf873Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield on competing with Microsoft, the future of work, and managing all those notifications https://bit.ly/2VqBZckApple employees circulate petition demanding investigation into “misogynistic” new hire https://bit.ly/3h4Sqm4“Misogynistic” Apple hire is out hours after employees call for investigation https://bit.ly/3naaL5cApple asks staff to return to office three days a week starting in early September https://bit.ly/3yNcUWnApple employees push back against returning to the office in internal letter https://bit.ly/3BJYSXyApple delays mandatory return to office until January 2022, citing COVID-19 surge https://bit.ly/3l433H5Apple places female engineering program manager on administrative leave after tweeting about sexism in the office https://bit.ly/3jNwuO0Google fires prominent AI ethicist Timnit Gebru https://bit.ly/3toFXhZApple Shareholders Show Their Support for Tim Cook https://nyti.ms/3tkAn01Apple says all US employees now receive equal pay for equal work https://bit.ly/3zSbpYjApple keeps shutting down employee-run surveys on pay equity -- and labor lawyers say it’s illegal https://bit.ly/3BNa85EApple says it has pay equity, but an informal employee survey suggests otherwise https://bit.ly/3zSJYh0Apple just banned a pay equity Slack channel but lets fun dogs channel lie https://bit.ly/3hbiyvBApple employees are organizing, now under the banner #AppleToo https://bit.ly/3hazJNPHere’s what we know about the Google union so far https://bit.ly/2WWNfNKGoogle employees push back after mishandled sexual harassment revelations https://bit.ly/3DUVv23Apple cares about privacy, unless you work at Apple https://www.theverge.com/22648265/apple-employee-privacy-icloud-idBlack women say Pinterest created a den of discromination -- despite its image as the nicest company in tech https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/03/pinterest-race-bias-black-employees/Apple ordered to pay California store workers for time spent waiting for bag searches https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/3/21419729/apple-california-pay-workers-class-action-bag-searchesRead the transcript here:https://www.theverge.com/e/22423538 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Managing editor Zoë Schiffer discusses writing 'Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter,' the challenges of investigative reporting in tech, establishing source relationships, the book writing process, transitioning between platforms, and maintaining balance in a fast-paced industry.

Zoë Schiffer, author of 'Extremely Hardcore,' delves into Elon Musk's Twitter takeover, discussing firings, non-payment, and Musk's self-perception as a business genius. They explore Musk's impact on Twitter, the challenges of reporting on the platform, and Musk's turbulent journey with the company.