The Verge's Will Poor recently came home from vacation and discovered he had an insect problem. More specifically, his Sonos speaker had an insect problem. Will brings us the story of what really happened there, and what he discovered about how the animal kingdom — and the electronics world — works. After that, The Verge's Andru Marino tells us about his research on all things AI podcasts. He tells us why people are so hooked on NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, where these generated shows fall short, and what all us human podcasters could learn from the bots. Finally, The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) all about smart lights. Which get complicated faster than you think. Related: https://youtu.be/YGtINs3R5EM 00:00 Intro 01:35 Will's Ant Problem 09:15 Ants in Sonos 12:54 Entomologist Insights on Ant Behavior 28:06 Solving the Ant Problem 37:02 The Verge's Andru Marino on AI Podcasts 40:28 Training Data for Generative Podcasts 41:53 Exploring the Audio Overview System 44:10 Practical Applications of Notebook LM 48:13 Challenges with Audio Recipes 51:00 Testing Podcasts and Pre-Production Documents 55:06 Accuracy and Trust Issues in AI-Generated Content 01:03:47 Future of AI in Podcasting and Entertainment 01:08:01 Vergecast hotline Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc Subscribe to The Verge: https://bit.ly/3FT6n5S Subscribe to The Vergecast on YouTube, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: https://bit.ly/3I6nJtz If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-state...