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.
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Nov 13, 2026 · 13:02
Jensen Huang is out as the CEO of Nvidia, and the company’s board named chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO. But a whole lot of questions remain. Plus, some good…
Nov 12, 2026 · 10:38
An increasing number of school districts are restricting phones in the classroom , and a series of major lawsuits against social media companies have led some platforms to make…
Nov 11, 2026 · 7:55
Reddit announced it will soon require users to log in to see much of the helpful human-generated content on its site. Why? Because traffic, and thus advertising, has taken a hit…
Nov 10, 2026 · 10:33
The message that Americans have no love for AI data centers rang out loud and clear in the midterms, with dozens of jurisdictions voting to stop their construction and electing…
Nov 9, 2026 · 6:38
Drew and Lindsay Haven spent years working in the Silicon Valley tech industry, but eventually felt they needed a change. Lindsay left the video game industry about a decade ago.…
Nov 6, 2026 · 13:59
Voters have made their dissatisfaction quite clear with the tech status quo. And it sounds like the Democrats gearing up to take power in the House and Senate might actually do…
Nov 5, 2026 · 6:32
OpenAI's new teen-appropriate version of ChatGPT may not be living up to its promises, according to an independent evaluation. The new mode is supposed to have stronger…
Nov 4, 2026 · 11:45
This story includes references to suicide, self-harm and mental health crises. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 to reach the…
Nov 3, 2026 · 4:04
Interpol estimates scam losses totaled almost $500 billion globally last year. In many cases, it’s not just one bad actor but an entire network of scammers. And Cambodia has…
Nov 2, 2026 · 9:25
In September, OpenAI said that its models had solved one of math's famous Millennium Prize problems. Then, the lab dropped more than 700 papers tackling another 400 complex…
Oct 30, 2026 · 13:15
Anthropic formally filed to go public this week and about a third of its paperwork is dedicated to potential risks — including political ones. We'll get into it on today's “Tech…
Oct 29, 2026 · 5:12
Consumer electronics and AI data centers need memory chips. But there are only a handful of companies in the world that make them. The surge in demand has caused memory shortages…
Oct 28, 2026 · 11:06
Halloween haunts have long relied on a little technical wizardry to bring their terrors to life —from lighting and animatronics to digital decorations. But these days, the…
Oct 27, 2026 · 4:45
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…
Oct 26, 2026 · 8:19
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,…
Oct 23, 2026 · 12:25
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…
Oct 22, 2026 · 12:37
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…
Oct 21, 2026 · 9:48
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…
Oct 20, 2026 · 7:13
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…
Oct 19, 2026 · 4:36
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…
Oct 16, 2026 · 12:40
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…
Oct 15, 2026 · 8:42
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):…
Oct 14, 2026 · 13:11
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…
Oct 13, 2026 · 8:04
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…
Oct 12, 2026 · 10:02
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…
Oct 9, 2026 · 16:16
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…
Oct 8, 2026 · 9:41
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…
Oct 7, 2026 · 7:34
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…
Oct 6, 2026 · 12:45
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…
Oct 5, 2026 · 9:44
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,…
Oct 2, 2026 · 12:37
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…
Oct 1, 2026 · 8:11
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…
Sep 30, 2026 · 8:26
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…
Sep 29, 2026 · 8:20
Content creator Manny Marotta has gone viral in recent weeks for his X feed recounting the news of 25 years ago as if it's happening now. His minute-by-minute account of the…
Sep 28, 2026 · 7:24
The AI smart speaker market is getting crowded. This year, Amazon, which is a Marketplace underwriter, rolled out a large language model-powered version of its classic voice…
Sep 25, 2026 · 15:41
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,…
Sep 24, 2026 · 8:22
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…
Sep 23, 2026 · 9:46
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…
Sep 22, 2026 · 8:51
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…
Sep 21, 2026 · 9:12
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…
Sep 18, 2026 · 14:53
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…
Sep 17, 2026 · 4:45
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…
Sep 16, 2026 · 10:34
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…
Sep 15, 2026 · 7:33
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…
Sep 14, 2026 · 5:56
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…
Sep 11, 2026 · 10:57
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…
Sep 10, 2026 · 12:57
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…
Sep 9, 2026 · 9:06
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…
Sep 8, 2026 · 10:17
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…
Sep 7, 2026 · 4:00
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…
Sep 4, 2026 · 14:50
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…
Sep 3, 2026 · 5:54
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…
Sep 2, 2026 · 4:12
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…
Sep 1, 2026 · 11:21
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…
Aug 31, 2026 · 8:05
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…
Aug 28, 2026 · 11:58
Meta announced this week that it has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a landmark trial over social media addiction. It also agreed to add stronger child-safety measures…
Aug 27, 2026 · 9:04
Old school film technology is having a moment this summer. Moviegoers have traveled far and wide to see Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in its intended IMAX 70 mm film format.…
Aug 26, 2026 · 8:41
When Meta Ray-Ban glasses were launched in 2021, they didn’t perform so well on the market. But in recent years, Meta has been partnering with fashion brands like Coperni and…
Aug 25, 2026 · 7:50
California promised consumers an easier way to protect their personal data. Since 2024, the Delete Act has required the state registration of data brokers — businesses that…
Aug 24, 2026 · 9:02
Anthropic recently announced it's adding watermarks to all text outputted by its chatbot Claude. But often, you don't need fancy detection software to know; you just need to look…
Aug 21, 2026 · 11:09
OpenAI is launching ChatGPT for Teens, which has new guardrails to steer conversations from sensitive topics like self-harm or sexual content. It’ll also include parental…
Aug 20, 2026 · 9:47
Most of the world’s internet traffic flows through underwater cables on the ocean floor. The wires are also responsible for some $10 trillion worth of financial transactions…
Aug 19, 2026 · 10:07
Water systems across a dozen states were targeted by cyberattacks in recent weeks. So far, the water has remained safe to drink, but the incidents have raised concerns about the…
Aug 18, 2026 · 7:31
More than 100 rockets took off into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast last year — a new record. And with more rockets taking flight each year, the availability of launch sites is…
Aug 17, 2026 · 7:34
Suno, an AI music company, wants to partner with independent artists by launching an incubator program called Suno Spark. This program will provide grants, marketing support and,…
Aug 14, 2026 · 12:43
Anthropic announced it's adding invisible watermarks to all text generated by its chatbot Claude. The AI startup is rolling out the policy globally as part of efforts to comply…
Aug 13, 2026 · 8:47
Generative AI models can produce enormous volumes of text, images and video in seconds. But without expert human instruction, the output is often generic. (You might say slop.) A…
Aug 12, 2026 · 9:41
This story includes discussion of suicide. Back in 2021, TikTok tweaked its algorithm in an effort to address dangerous filter bubbles — a sort of algorithmic spiral of…
Aug 11, 2026 · 8:11
Remember those grainy old baby monitors? So passé. Today, the modern nursery can be equipped with HD cameras and biometric sensors — all analyzed with artificial intelligence.…
Aug 10, 2026 · 7:57
Substack, the platform popular for online newsletters, recently launched an artificial intelligence detection feature powered by Pangram. The detector allows users to scan text…
Aug 7, 2026 · 12:33
Is your shirt-folding technique good enough to train a robot how to do it? Could MySpace be creeping back into our browsers? We get into all this on today’s “Marketplace Tech…
Aug 6, 2026 · 8:46
Let’s say you're chatting away with AI — perfect grammar, great vocabulary. Then, boom: a random word in another language! That's the topic for today's “Uncanny AI.” Those…
Aug 5, 2026 · 9:02
AI has already changed the legal field, bringing new efficiencies — along with some high-profile mistakes — to tasks like research and drafting contracts. But law professor…
Aug 4, 2026 · 6:38
Last month, President Xi Jinping spoke at an AI conference in Shanghai, China. There he promoted AI accessibility for the world, touting China’s adoption of open-weighted models.…
Aug 3, 2026 · 6:56
OpenAI released its first ChatGPT model in November of 2022 . Since then, companies across the U.S. have worked to integrate AI models into their workflows as quickly as…
Jul 31, 2026 · 13:21
Meta and Microsoft — as well as other tech titans — have been reporting quarterly earnings, and investors are looking at AI spending with a more skeptical eye. Plus, more than…
Jul 30, 2026 · 5:57
Shri Narayanan, professor of engineering, psychology and linguistics at the University of Southern California, teaches his students to privilege humans when using artificial…
Jul 29, 2026 · 12:41
The University of Southern California is aiming to integrate AI across its campus, thanks to a $200 million dollar gift from a venture capitalist. Gaurav Sukhatme is the newly…
Jul 28, 2026 · 4:14
The ocean is already one of the best climate solutions we’ve got. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that would otherwise contribute to global warming. But what if it…
Jul 27, 2026 · 6:44
A proliferation of AI apps that allow users to create sexualized images of real people have grown into a multi-million dollar industry. Social media platforms are serving as de…
Jul 24, 2026 · 13:32
OpenAI revealed this week that two of its advanced AI models escaped containment and hacked into the systems of AI company Hugging Face, which had the answers to the benchmarking…
Jul 23, 2026 · 8:15
A missing package can easily ruin a day, but chasing where that package went — or even a refund — is like following Odysseus on his treacherous journey. And in the age of AI…
Jul 22, 2026 · 7:06
Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino has been using chatbots pretty intensively the last couple years. And there are some details she’s shared about herself that chatbots seem to…
Jul 21, 2026 · 8:50
The 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…
Jul 20, 2026 · 8:06
As 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…
Jul 17, 2026 · 11:57
Apple 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…
Jul 16, 2026 · 11:13
The 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…
Jul 15, 2026 · 8:48
Netflix 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…
Jul 14, 2026 · 9:02
Last 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…
Jul 13, 2026 · 4:02
Mitigating climate change likely requires not only lowering emissions, but removing existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And while the Trump administration has cut many…
Jul 10, 2026 · 9:54
OpenAI 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…
Jul 9, 2026 · 8:28
In 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…
Jul 8, 2026 · 11:56
We'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…
Jul 7, 2026 · 5:06
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are planning to go public, each pushing a valuation of $1 trillion as of their latest funding rounds. But even before these mega-IPOs send a tsunami of…
Jul 6, 2026 · 9:06
During last year’s massive wildfires in Los Angeles, concerned residents and firefighters went to one app to get up to date information: Watch Duty. Now, the app covers all 50…
Jul 3, 2026 · 4:08
Many scientists believe we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction brought on by factors like climate change, deforestation, fishing and hunting. The Texas-based company…
Jul 2, 2026 · 8:03
AI is the buzzy tech of the moment. It's made plenty of money not only for companies but the cities and states where investment is pouring in. Illinois and specifically Chicago…
Jul 1, 2026 · 11:12
Who is using AI? And what are they using it for? Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, has been trying to answer these questions to better understand how AI is reshaping the…
Jun 30, 2026 · 7:15
The resemblance to an actual dog is loose but the quadrupedal robot dogs known as “Spot” from Boston Dynamics do have four legs. They're often used to do reconnaissance in…
Jun 29, 2026 · 7:12
There’s a longstanding nursing shortage in the U.S. that's only expected to get worse. Some hospitals have experimented with robotic nursing assistants to lighten the load, like…
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Your podcast? Get the Podli badge for your site