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Marketplace

Monday through Friday, Marketplace demystifies the digital economy in less than 10 minutes. We look past the hype and ask tough questions about an industry that's constantly changing.

53 episodes
daily
Avg 9 min
English

Episodes 53

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Friday · 15 min
Meta’s new Muse AI agent gives investors the warm-'n-fuzzies
Meta's new Muse AI assistant is having a moment — and it's kind of adorable. Meta announced a slew of new integrations for its AI assistant at a company event this week, including a customizable furry lil’ avatar and a Tamogatchi-like wearable device for interacting with it. Plus, Wall Street is betting billions on growing demand for cybersecurity in the age of AI and social media platform Discord enters its age-gating era. Anita Ramaswamy at The Information is here to help us unpack the week in tech. More on this: I Gave My Life Over to Meta’s A.I. Agent and Was Blown Away — New York Times Meta Tests Muse AI Agent Calls That Are Actually Made By Humans in a Call Center — 404 Media CrowdStrike and Okta Trade at Big Premiums Despite Unproven AI Payoff — The Information Discord’s age-verification era is upon us, despite community backlash — Tech Crunch
Thursday · 8 min
Finding common ground in the U.S.-China AI rivalry
AI is the big item on the agenda this week as Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President Trump in Washington, D.C. The talks come after a firestorm of news that has brought AI safety front and center: the hack of Hugging Face by rogue OpenAI agents, the resignation of an Anthropic researcher, plus calls by AI leaders to pace the frontier always met with the rejoinder, “what about China?” Samm Sacks, senior fellow at the think tank New America, tells us more about China's approach to these AI talks. More on this: “US and China Hail Talks as Positive Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit” from Bloomberg “US proposes AI incident alert system in talks with China, Bessent says” from Associated Press
Wednesday · 9 min
The beauty industry is betting big on AI
The global beauty market is expected to hit almost $600 billion by 2030, according to a report by McKinsey & Company. And just like pretty much every industry, it's being transformed by AI. L’Oréal and OpenAI announced a partnership this summer to bring virtual makeup try-ons and product discovery to ChatGPT. An AI styling firm called Alta is integrating e.l.f. Beauty products into its virtual try on avatars. And consumers are increasingly looking to chatbots for skincare and makeup recommendations. Apparently beauty inquiries account for almost half of generative AI retail referral traffic, according to market research firm EuroMonitor. For more we're joined by fashion-tech journalist and consultant Maghan McDowell, who's been following this trend.
Tuesday · 8 min
The cost of digitally disconnecting
Sure, you can put down your phone and go touch grass for free. But for those looking for a little help committing to a more disconnected lifestyle, there's a growing market of products and services from retreats to apps to devices that promise to supercharge your ability to unplug — for a price. Paula Mejia has covered the booming digital detox industry for Mother Jones, and spoke with “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino about her reporting. More on this: “Adventures in Unplugging” from Mother Jones “Meta to pay up to $18bn to settle claims its platforms harm children” from BBC9
Monday · 9 min
How attitudes toward AI differ across generations
At this point we've probably all been a part of heated dinner conversations about AI. Rana el Kaliouby has them almost nightly at home. She's an AI scientist and investor who hosts the podcast Pioneers of AI. But her own daughter is an AI skeptic, her teenage son, on the other hand, is an AI super user — which makes for some pretty interesting conversations at home.
September 18 · 14 min
Trump rejects AI's "effective altruism" movement
Congress is looking to rein in Flock cameras; plus, Apple has a new way to prove your iPhone photos are real. But first, it's been a wild week in AI. After the freakout over an Anthropic researcher quitting in protest last week, CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI, and his counterpoints Sam Altman and Elon Musk agreed. President Donald Trump? Not so much. He called fears of rogue AI a hoax, and even went after a niche intellectual community that's deeply invested in AI safety: the Effective Altruist movement. Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to explain more about all this on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.” Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”
September 17 · 4 min
Insurers race to cover AI errors
More than 1 in 5 U.S. companies now use artificial intelligence in their daily operations, according to a recent analysis of federal data from Goldman Sachs. In theory AI offers the promise of greater productivity and profits, but even with advances in capabilities, these systems are still fundamentally unpredictable, creating new liabilities for firms that use them. That’s where insurance typically comes in. But AI is disrupting that business, too. Deloitte projects insurance for AI will grow into a nearly $5 billion global business by 2032.
September 16 · 10 min
AI safety requires action, not promises
AI leaders suddenly seem to agree on slowing down the AI race. Anthropic's Dario Amodei published an essay last weekend calling to "pace the frontier" — slow the development of advanced AI to allow safety measures to catch up. He said Anthropic will give access to independent safety evaluators, to which OpenAI's Sam Altman and XAI's Elon Musk concurred. It's all giving déjà vu to Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Strategy Group, who’s been pushing government leaders around the globe to adopt a similar framework for AI for almost a decade. She laid out her vision in her 2019 book “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity.” More on this: “AI CEOs want to ‘pace’ the industry. That may not mean slowing down.” from NBC News “AI's leaders just asked to slow down. I made that case nine years ago.” from Amy Webb “We Must Pace the Frontier” from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
September 15 · 7 min
Why AI models are obsessed with creatures
The problem of AI alignment has become a hot topic. It’s raised questions, like how do we get AI to do what we want, and not what we don't want? For example, hacking another company. Or, in a less criminal vein, how do we get AI to stop talking about goblins? After mounting user reports of this behavior earlier this year, OpenAI had to give its models — ChatGPT and Codex — explicit instructions to cut it out. It's the topic of today's “Uncanny AI,” those moments when it's clear AI doesn't think like us. Janelle Shane, author of the blog "AI Weirdness,” says goblin mode emerged from a nerdy personality customization. “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino asked her why.
September 14 · 5 min
What might our tax system look like in the age of AI?
Our tax system was built around an economy where humans earn wages, companies employ workers, and both contribute to the public purse. So what happens if AI starts changing that equation? Marketplace’s Future Effects correspondent David Brancaccio has been exploring just that in his series, “Robots Ate My Taxes.”
September 11 · 10 min
AI safety concerns grow as insiders issue urgent warnings
An Anthropic researcher publicly resigned this week, warning on social media that artificial intelligence companies are “gambling with our lives.” It’s part of a growing chorus of insiders pleading to slow down the AI race. One said he believed there was a greater than 10% chance the tech will kill us all in the next decade. The news comes after a fresh wave of troubling details about the OpenAI incident where agents escaped a testing environment and hacked into Hugging Face. Plus, data center developers have their eye on Patagonia — the colder, the better. And Amazon is betting AI lip-syncing can make dubbed video content more watchable. Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to break down the busy week in tech news. Everything we talked about: Scoop: Sanders convenes senators for AI briefing amid mounting alarm — from Axios Tech explores Argentina's Patagonia for mega data centers — from Reuters Google to invest record $15 billion in AI infrastructure in the ‘Texas of Europe’ — from CNBC Amazon Prime Video’s new AI tech matches lips to dubbed audio — from The Verge
September 10 · 12 min
What's so concerning about the Hugging Face hack?
Nate Soares has been worried about artificial intelligence longer than almost anyone. He's the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of the subtly named book, "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All." He's watched with a sort of grim vindication, as increasingly alarming details emerge about the hack of the AI company Hugging Face by OpenAI models in development. OpenAI and third-party investigators recently released reports outlining what went wrong. Soares worries it's not enough. More on this: The Hugging Face incident and the road ahead - From OpenAI Brief independent investigation of agents’ behavior, reasoning and collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face hacking incident - From METR and Redwood Research
September 9 · 9 min
Meta's youth safety settlement could change how people access the internet
Meta agreed to a settlement last month with 52 attorneys general in a landmark case over teen social media addiction. The company promised a number of restrictions for under 18-year-old users, like time limits, overnight blackouts on some features and hidden likes. It also agreed to pay up to $17 billion, partly contingent on TikTok and YouTube adopting similar reforms. Surveys show a strong majority of Americans support stricter limitations on social media for kids. But, this settlement could fundamentally change how everyone accesses the internet, according to Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. More on this: “That $17B Meta settlement comes with a catch: Your online speech rights” from The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression “Majority of Americans support banning social media for kids under 16” from Pew Research Center
September 8 · 10 min
The Silicon Valley hopefuls living in hacker houses
Filmmaker Kenji Yamamoto got a gig working on Apple promotional videos a decade ago and went looking for temporary housing in the pricey Bay Area. What he found was an inside look at the world of hacker houses. These are group residences for people who come to Silicon Valley to pursue their dreams — like a college dorm for startup hopefuls. Yamamoto takes viewers inside that world in his new documentary for PBS, “The Dreamers and I.” More on this: “The Dreamers and I” from PBS “The New (And Slightly Smelly) Center of the AI Boom” from The Atlantic
September 7 · 4 min
What it's like to log off from a career in tech
More Americans are leaving the labor force for a variety of reasons. The labor force participation rate — which measures the share of working-age Americans who either have a job or are looking for a job — has fallen sharply this year, and it’s been on a steady decline for decades. We hear from Kris Bell, who recently retired early from a long career in the tech industry, about why he chose to make the leap.
September 4 · 14 min
NYC public schools ban AI through middle school
Google survives yet another antitrust case without having to break up its business. Plus, New York City public schools announced a new policy this week banning the use of AI among elementary and middle school students. But first, John Ternus took over as CEO of Apple after a 15-year run by Tim Cook. Joanna Stern, founder of the media company New Things, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to explain more about what this means for the iPhone maker on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.” Everything we talked about “Apple Begins Its Next Balancing Act as New C.E.O. Takes Over” from The New York Times “Why Apple’s folding iPhone will be ‘Ultra’ in name only” from Macworld “In a Big Win, Google Avoids a Breakup of Its Ad Tech Business” from The New York Times “Nation’s largest school district bans AI in the classroom through 8th grade” from CNN “Three AI agents. One school shopping list.” from New Things
September 3 · 5 min
What if the AI boom never turns a profit?
Even if artificial intelligence leads to a more prosperous future in the long run, most agree there will be a lot of disruption in the meantime. Marketplace’s senior correspondent for Future Effects, David Brancaccio, explores how that AI disruption will mean layoffs, underemployment and ultimately less income tax revenue for the government. Experts say now’s the time to revamp the tax system for the age of AI.
September 2 · 4 min
AI in banking: the good, the bad, and the efficient
The banking sector is figuring out how to navigate AI. And the stakes are high. The tech has raised red flags over potential bias, particularly when it comes to lending practices. But it could also make some banking operations more efficient. Which would be especially valuable for smaller banks — which tend to operate with fewer resources than their bigger competitors. Marketplace’s Justin Ho spoke with bankers at some smaller institutions about how they’re approaching the technology — and their concerns about the future of AI in banking.
September 1 · 11 min
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff on default encryption and AI privacy
Amazon's popular brand of video-enabled smart home and security devices, Ring, is adding a new encryption system called TAKE — Throw Away the Key Encryption. It allows users to encrypt all video their home cameras capture while keeping advanced AI-enabled capabilities and security features active. The company already offered traditional end-to-end encryption, but that disabled advanced security features processed on the cloud that required Ring servers to maintain access to the video. Ring’s founder, Jamie Siminoff, says TAKE works by changing — or "throwing away" — the encryption key so Amazon servers don't have permanent access. More on this: “Ring introduces TAKE, setting a new industry standard for default encryption and control” from Amazon “Ring says its new encryption limits what it can give police” from The Verge “Ring Superbowl Ad Shows Americans How Powerful Surveillance Systems Have Become, Freaks Them Out” from The American Civil Liberties Union
August 31 · 8 min
ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing
Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be responsible for collecting the DNA of nearly a million people in 2025. The genetic material is then sent to the FBI, where it can be stored for future policing. That’s according to an updated report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Stevie Glaberson, a co-author of the report, about the DNA collection practice — and its legal implications. More on this: Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing | Center on Privacy and Technology | Georgetown Law from Georgetown Law ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children | WIRED from Wired

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