David Pierce

Editor-at-Large

David Pierce is The Verge’s Editor-at-Large. In previous lives he worked at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. He owns all the phones. Want to get in touch? You can email david@theverge.com, or send a message to @davidpierce.xyz on Bluesky or davidpierce.11 on Signal.

The OG reading app just got a big update

David PierceAug 1

It’s time to panic about AI safety

David PierceJul 31

Gym tasks vs. work tasks.

This not a brand-new way of thinking about what we should and shouldn’t offload to AI, but I hadn’t seen it before. From Bruce Schneier:

The writing assignments I give my students are gym tasks, not work tasks. I ask them to write policy memos not because the world needs more policy memos. I assign them because the very act of writing, which includes thinking and outlining and drafting and editing, making and criticizing and revising arguments, will help develop the critical thinking skills they will need in their future careers. And without this constant mental exercise, those skills will atrophy. Employers are already noticing.

Should You Use AI for a Task? Here’s a Simple Way to Decide - Schneier on Security

[Schneier on Security]

David PierceJul 29

Today’s Vergecast: The Z Fold 8 is the new foldable to beat.

The wide foldable is here, and it’s glorious. The Verge’s Dominic Preston has been reviewing Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, and joins the show to explain what this shorter, wider device gets right, what it’s still missing, and why this looks like the right kind of foldable for most people. (Once the price comes down, anyway.) With a similar foldable iPhone likely coming soon, it’s shaping up to be a fun year of foldables.

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David PierceJul 28

Today’s Vergecast: Flip phones are so back.

The team at Light has been working on minimalist phones for more than a decade. Its last device had a lot in common with a smartphone, but the newest model, the Light Flip, is something very different. Light CEO Kaiwei Tang explains why Light made a flip phone, how the world’s opinion of smartphones is changing, and whether you can cure your tech problems with more tech.

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Smart rings are looking like my kind of AI gadget

David PierceJul 28

David PierceJul 27

Today’s Vergecast: Here’s what an AI-first phone might look like.

Some of the biggest players in AI — in particular OpenAI, SpaceX, and Amazon — are heavily invested in creating a world after smartphones. They’re also all rumored to be building devices that sound a lot like smartphones. Verge contributor David Imel helps us figure out what these companies might actually be building, what an AI smartphone looks like, and whether anyone can unseat Apple and Google.

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