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.
Latest episodes
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5 min
Only in San Francisco: A picnic about AI's potential risks
Urgent concerns about losing control of AI have burst into the national conversation recently after the OpenAI hack of the open-source AI platform Hugging Face, the high-profile re…
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8 min
When ChatGPT writes your obituary
Donna Guthrie had obituaries on her mind after her brother passed away in May. She recently celebrated her 80th birthday and started wondering how she might be remembered. So, she…
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12 min
iPhone Duo's crease is put to the test
Apple's long-awaited iPhone Duo launched this week, and everyone has the same question: can you see a crease? Joanna Stern, founder of media company New Things, has been putting it…
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13 min
Behind the screens: What it’s like to interview an AI news agent
At Alaska News, you can find stories about the new summer sales tax rate in Juneau, a man ticketed for killing a bull moose out of season and about 20 other hyperlocal items a day.…
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10 min
Bumble didn't find its match on the stock market
When Bumble went public five years ago, the dating app known for being a friendlier place for women was valued at $14 billion. But the dating business, the tech industry and the st…
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7 min
How easy is it to game AI search results?
More and more people are turning to chatbots to search the web.But researchers are finding these systems can be gamed.We wanted to understand more about how AI chatbot search resul…
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5 min
Using generative AI for election-related research
You might say the 2026 midterms are the first big AI election. The technology has become a key political issue, it’s a significant source of fundraising and it’s also helping power…
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13 min
AI borrowing slowdown raises questions about investor exposure
It's been a bit of a rocky week in tech markets, particularly for companies heavy on debt. We'll get into it on this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”Plus, the king…
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9 min
Regulating the tech sector in the AI era
Europe may have weeks of paid vacation, quaint walkable cities and incredible, affordable local wines. But there's something the continent lacks (besides ice cubes and AC): shiny,…
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13 min
Is AI solving the right problems for consumers?
New AI features are quickly rolling out in the apps we use every day — from Google’s AI-generated search summaries to Meta’s Muse agent. But there's a big gap between what these to…
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8 min
Colleges are training the next generation of content creators
An increasing number of schools are offering classes and even majors and minors in the art of influencing.Charlie Randall is a senior pursuing a double major in theater and content…
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10 min
Talking with AI ghosts of loved ones
There's a growing market for AI models that promise to recreate the experience of interacting with a lost loved one. They're sometimes called generative ghosts, and they're the top…
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16 min
Trump names his new AI task force the "Super Intelligence Force"
President Donald Trump named a new superhero-sounding AI task force this week dubbed the “Super Intelligence Force.” It's led by Jay Clayton, the new AI Czar and also director of n…
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10 min
How a Meta AI prompt changed one mom’s approach to online privacy
It started when Kalie Robins posted an Instagram video with her kid. Meta's built in AI chatbot, Muse, started prompting her to ask questions about her daughters and personal life,…
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8 min
AI spending takes center stage ahead of midterms
OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife recently backed out of a planned $25 million donation to Leading the Future, an artificial intelligence-focused political action committ…
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13 min
What could slowing the AI frontier mean for the economy?
The AI industry appears to be getting more serious about safety. Leaders of top companies signed a non-binding agreement at the White House Sept. 30, laying out standards and best…
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10 min
Inside the mindset of AI safety workers
We've been hearing a lot about the threat of out-of-control of AI in recent weeks; mostly, from the people making the technology. There was the Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon, who…
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13 min
Trump and tech leaders agree to voluntary AI safety accord
While the White House hosted tech luminaries this week to sign a voluntary agreement on AI safety standards, the Federal Trade Commission opened a broad investigation into AI labs…
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8 min
AI-powered surveillance costs lives at the southern border
Over the last 25 years, the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to build a "virtual wall" of video surveillance at the southern border. The network can signal Border Patr…
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8 min
Can data centers ever be "good neighbors"?
Further proof — in case you need it — that AI data centers aren't very popular: A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows 60% of Americans aren't comfortable welcoming one to…