AI Listening Devices: Handy Helpers or Legal Minefields?

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Would you strap a device on your wrist that listens to your every word every day so it can send you relevant reminders and summarize your conversations? WSJ senior personal tech columnist Joanna Stern did just that and shares her insights about the usefulness of such devices and the legal questions around their use. Plus: We get an update on the courtroom showdown between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission over whether the social-media company is operating a monopoly. WSJ reporter Dave Michaels brings us up to speed. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. Service Now puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent tools for your service agents to make customers happier, all built into a single platform you can
0:22.0	use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
0:27.9	slash UK slash AI for people. Hey, T&B listeners, before we get started, a heads up. We're going to be
0:33.8	asking you a question at the top of each show for the next few weeks. Our goal here at Tech News Briefing is to keep you updated with the latest headlines and trends on all things tech.
0:43.0	Now we want to know more about you, what you like about the show, and what more you'd like to be hearing from us.
0:49.0	We already asked you about some corners of tech you might be interested in.
0:53.2	Now we've got a few others in mind.
0:55.0	Biotech, data science, robotics, let us know what sparks your interest. If you're listening
1:00.5	on Spotify, look for our poll under the episode description, or you can send us an email to
1:05.3	at WSJ.com. Now on to the show.
1:12.0	Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Monday, May 5th.
1:15.3	I'm Victoria Craig for the Wall Street Journal.
1:17.8	Weeks into a legal showdown between the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook
1:21.3	parent company meta, what have we learned? Our reporter gives us an update from what he's
1:26.2	seen and heard in the courtroom.
1:28.4	Then, would you willingly allow a device to record your every word? Every day? Our tech columnist
1:34.9	did for three weeks. She'll share her insights from the experience. But first, is there enough
1:41.1	competition in social media? That's the big question a judge is looking to answer without a jury in an ongoing legal battle between the Federal Trade Commission and META.
1:51.0	The FTC argues that META created a monopoly by buying up its competition, WhatsApp, and Instagram more than a decade ago.
1:58.1	But META says social media has become a lot more competitive since then,
2:01.5	and it faces increasing competition from the likes of TikTok and YouTube. Dave Michaels, who covers
2:07.2	antitrust litigation and corporate law enforcement for the Wall Street Journal, has been in the
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