What $200 of ChatGPT is really worth

AI and politics, politics and AI. That's the story of 2025. On this episode, The Verge's Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about ChatGPT's big new features, Operator and deep research, both of which promise to make the chatbot more useful and more autonomous. To access either one costs $200 a month — is it worth it? After that, The Verge's Liz Lopatto catches us up on the latest from Elon Musk and Doge, including why Musk is doing this thing, this way. Liz also makes the case that this isn't going to slow down anytime soon. Finally, Nilay Patel helps us answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline, and tells us how he felt about the Super Bowl's 4K stream. Further reading:

OpenAI’s new Operator AI agent can do things on the web for you

ChatGPT’s agent can now do deep research for you

I tested ChatGPT’s deep research with the most misunderstood law on the internet

Elon Musk’s rapid unscheduled disassembly of the US government

DOGE wreaked havoc on the government in just one week

Federal judge blocks DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury records

How Elon Musk’s Department of Energy access could pose a nuclear threat

What we know about President Elon’s government takeover

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices