Quote · Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast
WWDC 2026: Is Siri Actually Good Now?
Where this was said
Ad Break: BetterHelp and Pure Leaf
At 1:32:24 · chapter starts 1:30:20
David and Marques deliver the BetterHelp ad, citing the company's 2026 State of Stigma report: 85% of Americans say getting mental health support is smart, but 74% say society discourages it, and more than 3 in 4 Americans reported anxiety or depression symptoms in the past two weeks. They direct listeners to betterhelp.com/voxpods. The Pure Leaf spot follows, introducing Caffeine Focused — a sugar-free, calorie-free sparkling iced tea using naturally occurring caffeine from black tea and added L-theanine, available in peach and raspberry flavors.
Anthropic released Claude Fable — the model it previously said was 'too dangerous to release' — to all paid subscribers for one month before pulling it behind an expensive API paywall. David called it the drug dealer playbook: give them a taste, then make them pay. And given that $20/month plans cost these companies ~$5,000 per user, the economics demand it.
Data suggests that $20-per-month AI subscription plans cost companies like Anthropic approximately $5,000 per user in compute, making per-token API pricing essential for profitability.
Nintendo revealed a hyper-realistic Ocarina of Time remaster, and David is not happy. His argument: cartoon and cel-shaded art is timeless because it was never trying to be real. Photorealism always dates itself. Wind Waker looks as good today as it did 20 years ago. A hyper-real Ocarina will not age the same way.
