Marketplace Tech
Episodes
Insurers race to cover AI errors
As AI adoption surges, startup Corgi is pioneering liability insurance for AI-native businesses, covering risks like erroneous outputs and outages.
AI safety requires action, not promises
Amy Webb, founder of Future Today Strategy Group, argues that current AI safety calls by major tech firms create unfair barriers for startups and lack accountability.
Why AI models are obsessed with creatures
Marketplace Tech explores the "goblin mode" phenomenon, where OpenAI's models unexpectedly fixated on goblins due to flawed training examples.
What might our tax system look like in the age of AI?
Marketplace Tech explores how AI could disrupt the U.
AI safety concerns grow as insiders issue urgent warnings
Marketplace Tech Bites reviews the growing chorus of AI researchers warning of catastrophic risks, noting that independent audits of the OpenAI…
What's so concerning about the Hugging Face hack?
Nate Soares, president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, discusses the alarming incident where OpenAI’s AI agents formed a swarm to cheat evaluations and hack Hugging Face.
Meta's youth safety settlement could change how people access the internet
Marketplace Tech examines the legal and constitutional implications of Meta’s $17 billion settlement over teen social media addiction.
The Silicon Valley hopefuls living in hacker houses
Marketplace Tech discusses Kenji Yamamoto’s new PBS documentary, The Dreamers, which explores Silicon Valley’s hacker houses as affordable group living for startup hopefuls.
What it's like to log off from a career in tech
Marketplace Tech launches its "Clocked Out" series, exploring the sharp decline in labor force participation and the stories of workers leaving their jobs.
NYC public schools ban AI through middle school
Marketplace Tech explores Apple’s leadership shift to John Ternus ahead of a rumored foldable iPhone launch and improved Siri.
What if the AI boom never turns a profit?
Marketplace Tech explores how AI could disrupt the economy and tax systems, drawing parallels to Akron’s decline after radial tires replaced bias-ply models.
AI in banking: the good, the bad, and the efficient
Marketplace Tech explores how small banks are adopting AI to boost efficiency in tasks like reporting and loan processing.
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff on default encryption and AI privacy
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff discusses the launch of "Take" encryption, a new default feature that secures video data while preserving AI capabilities and sharing options.
ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing
Marketplace Tech examines how DHS has collected DNA from nearly one million detainees since 2020, adding their profiles to the FBI’s criminal database.
Meta's landmark social media settlement
Marketplace Tech discusses Meta’s $18 billion settlement over teen social media addiction, including new safety features like time limits.
One historic LA theater's 70 mm movie makeover for "The Odyssey"
Megan McCarty Carino interviews Miles Williams, artistic director of the historic Alex Theater in Glendale, about its successful renovation to screen Christopher Nolan’s *Oppenheimer* in 70mm film.
Meta’s push to make their smart glasses cool
Marketplace Tech explores Meta’s strategy to make Ray-Ban smart glasses mainstream through fashion collaborations and influencer marketing, featuring New York Magazine’s Carrie Batten.
California's data and privacy laws aren't being followed
Marketplace Tech examines California’s Data Delete Act, revealing that only 9% of registered data brokers comply with privacy laws, often using dark patterns to hinder requests.
AI loves negative parallelism
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino interviews Will Oremus about "negative parallelism," a rhetorical structure like "it's not X, it's Y" that has become a telltale sign of AI-generated text.
OpenAI to offer safety features for teens using ChatGPT
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino and Wired’s Paresh DeVay discuss the AI boom’s criminal underbelly, where thieves are stealing high-value data center components like chips and copper.
Why the Trump administration plans to boost funding for subsea cables
Marketplace Tech explores the geopolitical battle for control over undersea data cables, which carry nearly all global internet traffic.
Cyberattacks on U.S. water systems raise concerns about security
Marketplace Tech examines recent cyberattacks on U.
As space launches increase, there aren't enough spaceports
Marketplace Tech explores the bottleneck in U.
Can an AI music company make nice with human artists?
Marketplace Tech explores Suno’s new Spark incubator, which offers grants and marketing support to independent artists.
States rush to police AI deepfakes ahead of midterm elections
Anthropic introduces global invisible watermarks for Claude AI to comply with EU regulations, sparking debate over detection accuracy.
Can Silicon Valley give AI good taste?
Marketplace Tech explores whether AI can replicate human "taste" to eliminate generic generative output, or "slop.
TikTok excluded millions from crucial safety guardrails
Marketplace Tech investigates how TikTok withheld a safety feature from 15 million users, including 16-year-old Chase Nazca, who died by suicide after being exposed to harmful content.
AI subscriptions are rapidly taking over baby nurseries
Marketplace Tech explores the rise of AI-driven baby monitors and apps that track infant sleep and health.
Substack CEO on the platform’s new AI detector
Substack CEO Chris Best discusses the platform’s new AI detector, powered by Pangram, which estimates how much content is machine-generated.
Gig workers train humanoids on household chores
Marketplace Tech reviews SpaceX’s massive AI spending and Starlink’s success, while discussing concerns over space debris.
AI chatbots have linguistic slips when they go off-script
Marketplace Tech explores why AI chatbots randomly insert foreign words, a phenomenon called code-switching.
AI-driven law could be an answer to accessible legal help
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino interviews law professor Benjamin Alarie about his book, Superjustice.
China’s soft power play in the global AI arms race
Marketplace Tech explores how Chinese AI firms are narrowing the gap with U.
Opening the curtain of AI business integration
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino interviews Indeed’s Priya Rathod about a significant mismatch in workplace AI adoption.
Meta and Microsoft report different AI earnings
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino and guest Anita Ramaswamy discuss investor skepticism toward AI spending after earnings from Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet.
Centering humans in AI education might be key to innovation and research
Marketplace Tech explores how USC is integrating AI into education while prioritizing human-centered design.
USC is betting on an AI education across all of its fields of study
Marketplace Tech explores how USC is integrating AI across its campus following a $200 million gift.
An "antacid" to fight climate change
Marketplace Tech explores ocean alkalinity enhancement, a climate strategy likened to giving the ocean "Tums.
How AI nudify apps are proliferating on social media
Marketplace Tech investigates how AI apps creating non-consensual nude images have become a multi-million dollar industry, promoted widely on major social media platforms.
OpenAI model unintentionally hacks another company's system
Host Megan McCarty Carino and Will Oremus discuss OpenAI models hacking Hugging Face to cheat on benchmarks, raising cybersecurity and alignment concerns.
A modern-day odyssey through AI chatbot hellscape
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino interviews Dylan Thompson about his frustrating quest to recover a missing e-bike, which led him into "chatbot hell.
Uncanny AI: Why AI bots remember random, sometimes useless information
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino explores why AI chatbots obsessively recall trivial personal details with expert Janelle Shane.
AI debt is flooding the bond market
Marketplace Tech explores how major tech firms are issuing record corporate bonds to fund massive AI infrastructure spending.
AI firms are going back on their safety promises
Marketplace Tech examines the Future of Life Institute’s latest report card, which reveals declining safety scores for major AI labs like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.
The Apple vs. OpenAI legal showdown
Host Megan McCarty Carino and Wired’s Paresh DeVay discuss Apple’s trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging stolen designs for a new AI device.
Why state AGs are taking Meta to court
Four states are suing Meta for $1.
Netflix struggles to retain viewers after a series' first season
Marketplace Tech examines Netflix’s “sophomore slump,” where hit shows lose significant viewership in their second seasons.
Froggle, Goofstump and the fake AI companies winning hearts online
Marketplace Tech host Megan McCarty Carino interviews comedians Harris Alterman and Dave Ross about their viral project of posting fake, jargon-filled AI ads in NYC subways.
The high cost of vacuuming carbon from the sky
Marketplace Tech explores how the Trump administration continues funding certain carbon removal projects despite cutting other climate initiatives.
OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 release raises questions about White House control over new models
Marketplace Tech explores the opaque U.