Podcast
Marketplace Tech
Hosted by Marketplace · EN
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.
150episodes
Episodes
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AI debt is flooding the bond market
3w ago00:08:50Tap to summarizeThe Big Tech companies driving the AI boom are expected to spend more than $700 billion on data center infrastructure this year. To finance this spending spree, they're increasingly looking to debt. Hyperscalers like Alphabet, Oracle, and Meta have been issuing corporate bonds at a scale the industry has never seen — nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars this year so far. The bond market could be considered a less risky way than stocks for investors to get a piece of the AI hype. To explain what the flood of AI debt means for the bond market, we’re joined by Julie Ask, an independent industry analyst at Ask Advisory. More on this: “The Quarter-Trillion-Dollar Onslaught of AI Bonds Is Testing Investors’ Limits” from the Wall Street Journal “AI has taken over the stock market. The bond market is next.” from The Economist
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AI firms are going back on their safety promises
3w ago00:08:06Tap to summarizeAs top AI firms race to develop a “superintelligent” agent — one that surpasses human cognition — are they prioritizing safety guardrails along the way? Not according to the Future of Life Institute’s AI Safety Index, which reported that companies have gone back on their own promises to take a pause if their technology ever got close to certain risky points. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Sabina Nong, AI safety investigator at the Future of Life Institute, about what measures might ensure durable safety around AI moving forward.
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The Apple vs. OpenAI legal showdown
4w ago00:11:57Tap to summarizeApple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the AI startup stole trade secrets. The iPhone maker claimed that former Apple employees were asked to bring proprietary hardware to job interviews with OpenAI, and that the company tricked manufacturers into sharing Apple design secrets.Plus, New York state becomes the first to enact a data center moratorium, and Uber is lobbying to slow the roll of autonomous vehicles in Washington D.C. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, to learn more.Here’s what we talked about: “The 6 wildest claims in Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI” from The Verge“OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as AI Companion” from Bloomberg“New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium” from Reuters“Uber’s robotaxi lobbying effort puts it on a collision course with Waymo” from TechCrunch“Robotaxi Riders Are Falling Asleep, Sparking Frantic 911 Calls” from Bloomberg
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Why state AGs are taking Meta to court
4w ago00:11:13Tap to summarizeThe attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are suing Meta for $1.4 trillion, claiming the social media giant designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young users.The case is heading to court in Oakland, California, next month. It follows a landmark verdict earlier this year: A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms to a young woman who said she'd become addicted to the platforms starting at nine years old.And there are a slew of similar cases coming down the pike. To help break this down we're joined by Gaia Bernstein, law professor at Seton Hall Univerisity and author of the book "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies."
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Netflix struggles to retain viewers after a series' first season
4w ago00:08:48Tap to summarizeNetflix may be the undisputed king of streaming, but it's facing a new challenge: "the sophomore slump." Internal data reported by Bloomberg show audiences dropping off dramatically for follow-up seasons of successful shows.Series like "The Night Agent," "Beef" and "Avatar: The last Airbender" all lost 50% or more of their original viewers when they returned for season two. To figure out what might be going on and how Netflix could respond we called up Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at Greenlight Analytics.
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Froggle, Goofstump, and the fake AI companies winning hearts online
Jul 1400:09:02Tap to summarizeLast month, comedians Harris Alterman and Dave Ross posted a series of advertisements for made-up tech companies around the New York City subway system. The ads are fake, but they bear an eerie resemblance to the real AI marketing campaigns proliferating throughout U.S. cities. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with the two comedians about why the joke resonated with so many people and what’s next in terms of AI mockery.
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The high cost of vacuuming carbon from the sky
Jul 1300:04:02Tap to summarizeMitigating climate change likely requires not only lowering emissions, but removing existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And while the Trump administration has cut many climate initiatives, it's continued to fund some carbon removal projects. Marketplace’s Amy Scott reports.
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OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 release raises questions about White House control over new models
Jul 1000:09:54Tap to summarizeOpenAI is rolling out its most advanced GPT-5.6 model after delaying the release for testing with the government. But the White House denied that the review was mandatory. What’s the deal?Plus, Reuters reported that China is considering limiting access to its top AI models from foreign competitors, including the United States. And, Meta launched a new AI image generator, sparking privacy concerns.Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino discusses this week’s top tech stories with Axios tech policy reporter Maria Curi. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”
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How drone warfare is reshaping battlefield medicine in Ukraine
Jul 900:08:28Tap to summarizeIn the post-9/11 years, the U.S. military has adhered to the “golden hour” rule: Wounded troops should be evacuated to higher-level care within 60 minutes. But as the new realities of drone warfare have taken shape in the Russia-Ukraine war, WUNC News military reporter Jay Price said medical response teams are being forced to rethink this standard approach to battlefield medicine. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Price to learn more.More on this:As attack drones grow more common in warfare, it's harder for medics to treat battlefield injuries from WUNC News
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Digital personal data is protected by the Fourth Amendment
Jul 800:11:56Tap to summarizeWe're still unpacking the slew of consequential Supreme Court decisions that came down at the end of the term last week. Among them was a 6-3 ruling on digital data privacy.In Chatrie v. United States, the Court found digital data does fall under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, law professor at George Washington University and author of the recent book “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance," explains more.More on this“Chatrie v. United States” opinion from the Supreme Court of The United States“Supreme Court limits use of 'geofence warrants' amid cellphone data privacy concerns” from ABC NewsBluesky thread post on the 6-3 ruling from Andrew Guthrie Ferguson
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