Why people really hate AI

by David Pierce

Mar 20, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

There’s a big, and increasing, disconnect in culture right now when it comes to artificial intelligence. Companies of all shapes and sizes are hunting for places to deploy AI and can’t stop talking about how this new technology will change everything. But when you ask people about AI, the consistent response is: no thanks. Study after study shows people are worried about the effects of AI and simply don’t find the technology worth all the downsides.

On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay try to understand the AI gap. No matter what you’ve heard, it’s not the water worries that are keeping AI from succeeding. Nor is it the supposedly “doomer” CEOs. The problem, we think, is simpler than all that. AI may be interesting, valuable business software, and it may make writing code easier than ever. But we are still without a truly game-changing consumer use case for AI — at least, one people are willing to pay for.

After that, The Verge’s Allison Johnson joins the show with a suddenly in-demand device, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold. Allison has spent months trying to get one of these phones, only to have Samsung discontinue the device this week. She takes us through her journey with the phone and helps us figure out what’s next for foldables, if anything.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on AI:

And in foldable phones:

And in the lightning round: