Marketplace Tech

If you have a debt, you may get a call, a letter or a text prodding you to pay it back. Now, that call could come from an AI agent. The AI debt collection market is expected to reach $16 billion by 2034, according to the Kaplan Group. Kate Nibbs of Wired has been reporting on this and said these bots are not as effective at getting people to pay back the money they owe.

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2026

There is growing demand for time with GPUs, the chips that power artificial intelligence. AI companies need those chips in order to keep their models up and running. And to do that, they can reserve time with a GPU. Now, there’s interest from Wall Street in creating a futures market for this AI compute time, essentially treating it like a commodity. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Liz Hoffman, business and finance editor at Semafor and host of the “Compound Interest” podcast, who recently wrote about this.

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2026

The price of oil has gone up significantly since late February, when the US invaded Iran. And when oil prices see a crazy rise, it makes other sources of energy look more attractive. But we’ve been here before - back in the 1970s, oil prices skyrocketed, and people started to turn to alternative or renewable energy sources. But, for a few reasons, it didn’t stick. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes explores why.

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2026

This week, rideshare drivers in Massachusetts unionize; plus, Robinhood lets AI agents trade on behalf its customers. But first, there’ve been hints for a while that Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX are planning to go public in the near future. Last week, SpaceX filed its initial public offering prospectus, also known as an S1, which is meant to help investors understand the company’s business model, including the risks it faces. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Paresh Dave, senior writer at WIRED, to learn more. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.” Everything we talked about today: “Tech titans prepare for blockbuster IPOs in new front of AI race” from The Hill “SpaceX Listed Grok’s ‘Spicy’ Mode as a Risk in Its IPO Filing” from Wired “Your AI agent can now trade for you on Robinhood. And buy stuff with your credit card too” from CNBC “Rideshare drivers union in Mass. says it's the 1st to be recognized in the U.S.” NBC Boston

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2026

Like the name suggests, plug-in solar panels can be plugged into an electrical outlet just like you would your toaster. But instead of using electricity, they send power back to be used elsewhere in the home. In most of the country, plug-in solar is neither illegal nor legal. But energy policy consultant Bentham Polis, who's also a senior researcher with the Clean Energy States Alliance, says a growing number of states are passing laws to help spell out the rules around the technology. Discussed in this episode: Instagram video from The Garbage Queen “How do plug-in solar panels work and how are they installed?” from The Independent “What States Need to Know About Plug-In Solar” from Clean Energy States Alliance

Transcribed - Published: 28 May 2026

Public backlash to content generated by artificial intelligence has pushed brands to reconsider how AI is used in their marketing. Some companies are swerving away from AI and finding ways to prove that their advertisements were made by humans. One of those humans is Ash Xu, a commercial director and online content creator. Brands hire her to make a commercial plus a behind-the-scenes video about how the ad was made. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Xu to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 27 May 2026

Peptides are short chains of amino acids. GLP-1 weight loss drugs are peptides. Insulin is one, too. And there are thousands of others. Now, people are seeking out peptides in the hope of better muscles, better skin, better memory, better…everything. Many of the peptides people wanna try are available for research use only but the Food and Drug Administration might change this. In July, the agency could decide to make about a dozen peptides more accessible by allowing pharmacies to compound and distribute them Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Zara Stone, tech culture reporter at The San Francisco Standard, to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2026

The wildfire risk mitigation company Technosylva helps utilities, insurers and government agencies predict where and when a fire could spark. It uses historical weather data to make those predictions and suggest changes to help prevent or mitigate a fire. For example, maybe moving a tree branch that's close to a power line so it doesn't fall and start a fire. The company is nearly 30 years old, and Technosylva's chief executive, Bryan Spear, explains how the advent of AI has changed the work they do.

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2026

On this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review, we take a look at how college graduates do not wanna hear about AI. Plus, what we all learned from the Musk v. Open AI case. But first, AI was unsurprisingly front and center at Google’s annual I/O developer conference. Among a suite of new AI products, Google said it updated its iconic search bar. Now, when searching in AI mode, the bar will expand as you ask a question. It will also provide suggestions about what you might wanna ask. Google says this is the biggest change to its search box since it debuted over 25 years ago. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, a columnist at The Information, about how this could change how people experience the internet. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2026

Anthropic’s newest AI model, Mythos, is so good, the company says, at uncovering security vulnerabilities that it's too dangerous to release to the public. Anthropic shared a preview version with a select group to help patch the holes that Mythos finds. But the prospect of a super-hacker AI system is still sending some business leaders into a panic. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino reports.

Transcribed - Published: 21 May 2026

Earlier this month, a group called ShinyHunters took responsibility for a hack on the education platform Canvas, which is used for coursework at colleges. In a letter posted online, the group threatened to leak data it took from the platform, including billions of private messages between students and teachers. Canvas was also temporarily unavailable, disrupting students’ ability to do their work. Then, last week, Instructure, which makes Canvas, said it had reached a deal with the hackers, that the data had been returned and all copies destroyed. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes asked Rachel Tobac, CEO at Social Proof Security, what we know about the deal.

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2026

As of mid-2025, about a third of newly published websites were generated by artificial intelligence. That’s a massive increase from just three years before when the number hovered around zero. The AI written text provides fewer diverse viewpoints and is generally presented in a cheerful manner. That's all according to an early study out last month. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with one of the study’s authors, Stanford University researcher Maty Bohacek, about how AI is changing the nature of the internet.

Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2026

Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of energy creation, and uses the flow of rushing water to create electricity. The province of Québec, Canada, has historically had an abundance of it and, later this spring, will start supplying hydropower to New York City. This is the second big hydropower line to link Québec and the Northeast U.S. this year, after a line to Massachusetts came on board this winter. Right now, the power is going one way, from Canada to the U.S., but some are thinking that the U.S. could eventually sell renewable wind energy back to Canada and let that country hold on to its hydropower for when it's really needed, creating a “regional battery,” says Marketplace's Henry Epp, who’s been reporting on this.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2026

This week, WhatsApp is offering private chats with its AI. Plus, Princeton will now hold supervised exams after a rise in AI-fueled cheating. But first, Google’s self-driving car division Waymo opted to do a voluntary recall of 3,800 of its robotaxis. This comes after a Waymo drove into a flooded road in San Antonio, Texas. The car was empty and no one was hurt, but Waymo is now updating its software to address how its cars deal with flooded roads. Will Oremus at The Atlantic joins Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes for these stories. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2026

Voice cloning is the use of artificial intelligence to generate a clone of a real person’s voice, imitating the sound, when they pause and what words they typically emphasize. And it can be hard for people to identify voices as being AI-generated. Research last year from UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid, an expert in digital forensics, found that people correctly identify a voice as AI-generated only 60% of the time. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Farid about the rapid sophistication of audio deepfakes, why it's so hard to tell the difference between a real voice and an AI-generated one right now, and some tips to help you spot voice clones.

Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2026

In order to write her new book “I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI To Do ‘Almost’ Everything," journalist Joanna Stern decided to invite artificial intelligence into every aspect of her life — including her family life. She has a wife and two sons. On their spring break, she took them to Phoenix, where it's easy to hail a driverless car. They rode in a bunch of them, including one that totally freaked out. She brought home an AI-powered toy (which her four-year-old quickly tired of), and says she realized her kids will "grow up never knowing a world without computers as smart as them.” Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Stern about how she hopes her children will navigate that world.

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2026

Imagine if you invited robots - smart ones or “smart-ish,” at least - into every aspect of your life. Your emails and texts are all composed by an AI, the bots look at a photo of what’s in your fridge and figure out what you can make for dinner. They even become emotional support, providing advice and sometimes companionship. Journalist and founder of media company New Things, Joanna Stern, decided to try this and she wrote about it in her new book “I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI To Do Almost Everything.” Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Stern about how AI did and didn’t help her and ultimately what she sacrificed by inviting AI into her life.

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2026

There's a new flex in Silicon Valley: how big is your AI agent swarm? They can work on your behalf, autonomously, 24/7, on whatever goal you give them. You might think having an army of AI minions could free up some time, maybe make work more chill. But, you’d be wrong, as Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino reports.

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2026

On this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review,” we’ll discuss why Apple is paying a $250 million settlement over its Apple Intelligence tool and its capabilities. Plus, GameStop makes a surprising buyout offer for eBay. But first up: Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude, announced a new computing deal this week with SpaceX and its AI division, xAI. Anthropic will get access to SpaceX’s Colossus One data center, which will let the company increase how much its customers can use Claude. The deal comes as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is facing off in federal court against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke about all this with Caroline O’Donovan, AI and technology senior reporter at The San Francisco Standard, who noted that Anthropic's leaders talked about the need for more computing power at their developer conference this week. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2026

Back in 2015, Elon Musk and Sam Altman got the idea to start a nonprofit AI lab to develop artificial general intelligence that benefits all humanity. The lab would also make its technology open source, calling it OpenAI. All that is according to a complaint filed by Elon Musk, who has since parted ways with the organization. And now he is suing OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman and its president Greg Brockman, saying they have abandoned the founding principles of the organization in pursuit of profits. They are currently facing off in federal court in the Northern District of California. Paresh Dave at Wired has been in the courtroom. He explains more on what the core of Musk's case is.

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2026

Technology has been transformative for how police officers do their jobs. Body cameras, speed detection technology and surveillance drones are some prominent examples. And now, law enforcement departments are trying to figure out if and how they want to add artificial intelligence to the mix. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Greg Barber, a science and technology journalist who recently wrote about this for Proof News. He explained how AI is being used in police work now and whether or not AI has become a time-saving tool for officers.

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2026

The startup Winnie is a marketplace for childcare. It works like this: Parents type in the age of their kid and their zip code, then different childcare providers in the area will pop up. You can also filter by languages spoken, and whether you want a childcare center or home-based daycare or another option. It's free for parents to use. But the company was founded back in 2016, when AI search wasn’t really a thing. And Winnie’s CEO and co-founder Sara Mauskopf says parents now want to be able to describe what they're looking for in natural language. So, Winnie has had to adapt. It's just released an AI-powered search tool. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Mauskopf to learn more about their new AI search engine and the challenges of keeping up with the fast-paced AI sector.

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2026

The GUARD Act is a bipartisan bill that would prohibit companies from letting kids under 18 interact with what the legislation calls "AI companions,” which are chatbots designed to encourage the simulation of an interpersonal relationship. This comes after some harrowing stories of teenagers who developed relationships with chatbots and then harmed themselves or others. The bill just passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes talks about this with Ashley Gold, a senior tech policy reporter at Axios.

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2026

This week, Taylor Swift trademarked her voice and image in what appears to be a bid to protect against AI misuse. Plus, a Japanese airline is experimenting with humanoid robots to help with baggage. But first, Google landed a deal with the Pentagon to let its AI models be used for classified work. A Google spokesperson told us in a statement that the company is proud to be providing its services for national security and that it believes AI should not be used for “domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight." We talked with Maria Curi at Axios about how Google’s deal compares to ones the Department of Defense has with other AI companies. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2026

The war with Iran has upended supply chains including for materials that are critical to building the electronics we use everyday, such as a certain kind of thermoplastic, copper, and helium. We are now dealing with shortages of all of them. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Jeff Janukowicz, an analyst with the research firm IDC, to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2026

There's been renewed interest in nuclear power in recent years, thanks in part to demand from tech companies in search of reliable energy to power their AI data centers. The startup Kairos Power has jumped on this opportunity. Its nuclear reactors are cooled by molten salt. They also use golf-ball sized nuclear fuel, instead of uranium rods cooled by water used by traditional reactors. Mike Laufer, co-founder and CEO of Kairos, says their reactors a bit like an upside down gumball machine. The company just started construction on its first power plant, located in eastern Tennessee, called Hermes 2. It will supply energy to the utility in the area, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and specifically to Google to power its data centers. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Laufer to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 29 April 2026

The International Math Olympiad is a yearly competition for students, most of them high school age, who compete to solve six difficult math problems. They're chosen from a pool of math problems submitted by different countries that participate in the competition. The problems that don't make the cut previously have mostly just been lost; there was no one place you could go to find them. But now a team at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab has gathered over 30,000 of those problems together in one dataset so both humans and AI models can look through and study them. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Mark Hamilton, a visiting researcher at MIT CSAIL who has been part of the work to gather problems. He’s also a Research Scientist at Google's DeepMind laboratory.

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2026

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, allows government agencies to collect information about foreign nationals located abroad. That surveillance can happen without a warrant and the government can order email providers to turn over any messages of a particular foreigner, including those with a U.S. citizen. Section 702 is set to expire this week. President Donald Trump has called for its extension, but there are Congressional lawmakers in both parties who oppose the kind of surveillance the law allows for. Elizabeth Goitein at the Brennan Center for Justice has testified before Congress advocating for reform of the law. She says right now it lets agencies search through Americans’ sensitive data.

Transcribed - Published: 27 April 2026

This week, Meta is reportedly laying off 10% of its workers. But in the meantime, it's also capturing their mouse clicks to train its AI models. Plus, Roblox settles with states over child safety concerns. But first, Apple's CEO is stepping down. The company announced this week that CEO Tim Cook is moving on from that role after about 15 years. His successor is John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering at the company. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, a columnist at The Information, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2026

Lawmakers around the U.S. are moving to restrict data center development. Maine, for example, recently passed what's being called the country's first statewide ban on data centers. The measure would prohibit building any new data centers until late 2027. As of this taping, Maine's governor, Janet Mills, was reportedly still undecided on whether she'd sign the bill. And 13 other states are also considering bans on data center development, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tony Pipa of the Brookings Institution talks more about how much of the pushback has to do with the speed with which data centers are popping up.

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2026

The social media company Snap recently announced it’s laying off about 1,000 workers — 16% of its employees. The company said these changes will reduce costs by more than half a billion dollars and help establish a path to net income profitability. This move comes after one of Snap's investors, Irenic Capital Management, wrote a public letter to the company outlining what it needs to do to “save” the company and cut costs. Snap has been a public company for nine years. It's had just a few non-consecutive profitable quarters. Sarah Kunst, a general partner at the venture capital firm Cleo Capital, explains more about when a company has to be consistently profitable.

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2026

The Wayback Machine is a project of the Internet Archive. It sends out web crawlers to take snapshots of the internet, creating a digital library of web pages. But now, some news publications are blocking its crawlers over concerns that AI companies will access the Wayback Machine’s publicly available archive and then train their AI models with the content. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes talked about this with Andrew Deck at Harvard's Nieman Lab.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2026

California became the first state to regulate embodied carbon in its building code. That’s changing the construction industry even beyond the state border. More than a third of planet-warming emissions come from buildings and construction. Marketplace’s The rest of it is what’s called embodied carbon. That’s the emissions that it took to make the steel, concrete, glass and insulation, and put them all together. Caleigh Wells looked into what California’s new regulations could mean for builders in this episode of Marketplace Tech, hosted by Stephanie Hughes.

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2026

This week, Spotify is letting its users buy physical books. Plus, Amazon acquires the satellite service provide Globalstar. But first, state lawmakers in Illinois are considering a bill that says developers of large AI models can’t be held liable for critical harms caused by those models, as long as the developer doesn't intentionally or recklessly cause the harm and has published a safety protocol on its website. A representative from OpenAI testified in favor of the bill; meanwhile, Wired reported this week that Anthropic is pushing for either major changes to the legislation, or for it to be killed completely. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2026

The share of older workers is on the decline — about 37% of people age 55 and above are now active in the labor force. About a decade ago, it was around 40%. The pandemic chased some older workers out, and others can simply afford to retire. Another factor that's causing some to exit? The emergence of artificial intelligence. Learning how to interact with it as a tool, maybe even as a colleague, seems like a headache to some. So, they’re choosing retirement instead. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Wall Street Journal reporter Lauren Weber, who’s been covering the phenomenon.

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2026

Routers, computers, web cameras — they all connect to the internet. And they can be infected with malicious software that lets someone else take over. The device becomes a bot, essentially. A group of these devices networked together then becomes a botnet. And these botnets can then be used for nefarious purposes, like distributed denial of service attacks, without the device owners even knowing about it. Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs recently wrote about several large botnets including one called Kimwolf that compromised more than three million devices.

Transcribed - Published: 15 April 2026

State governments invest their money a lot like a person might. Some treasuries, some mutual funds, a dash of corporate bonds, all intended to grow over time. Now, some states are looking to cryptocurrency as an investment. In 2025, at least nineteen states considered laws allowing some state funds to be invested in digital assets. Three states — Texas, New Hampshire, and Arizona — actually passed laws around this, according to a review by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes talked about this interest from states with Liz Farmer, senior officer at Pew Charitable Trusts, who explained why crypto is appealing to some state investors.

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2026

Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes was shopping recently with her seven-year-old who was drawn to a “Relaxolotl,” a tea infuser shaped like an axolotl. And it had a label: “designed in Rhode Island, by people.” Genuine Fred makes the relaxolotl. President Jason Amendolara told “Marketplace Tech” the company adopted the saying over a decade ago, before artificial intelligence was really in the conversation. It was meant to signal there were real humans behind the ideas. But now, the phrase has taken on new meaning. Genuine Fred does use AI as a tool, but Amendolara says people are still at the center of its design process. That made us wonder: Could human involvement be highlighted more by brands in the future? Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes discussed that with New York Institute of Technology professor Colleen Kirk, who has studied how people respond to marketing messages created by AI.

Transcribed - Published: 13 April 2026

This week, a Wisconsin city votes to restrict future data center development. Plus, the astronauts on Artemis II take their journey to social media. But first, Anthropic announced this week it has a new AI model called Claude Mythos Preview. The company says it’s extremely good at finding security vulnerabilities. So good that Anthropic is not releasing the model to the general public. Instead, it is granting access to a group of over 40 companies and tech organizations, a collaboration called Project Glasswing. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Joanna Stern, founder of the media company New Things, to discuss all these topics and more.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2026

For years, consumers have worried about how the private sector — namely, big tech — handles their personal data. Now a new survey from the Center for Democracy & Technology suggests a large majority are also concerned about how the federal government uses their data. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology at CDT, to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2026

As humans have integrated artificial intelligence into their daily lives, there is growing concern that AI is doing the bulk of the thinking. According to the paper: “Thinking—Fast, Slow, and Artificial: How AI is Reshaping Human Reasoning and the Rise of Cognitive Surrender,” by Gideon Nave and Steven Shaw of the Wharton School of Business, they’ve deemed it a “cognitive surrender.” “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Shaw, a postdoctoral researcher at Wharton, about their findings and the possible impacts for the future human cognition.

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2026

In the U.S., battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars have been more expensive than their gasoline-powered counterparts, costing about $8,000 more on average. Experts say EVs are poised to achieve price parity with internal-combustion engine vehicles in just a few years though, because the single costliest part of an EV — the battery that powers it — is getting cheaper.

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2026

Four months after Australia’s landmark law that banned all minors under the age of 16 from creating or owning social media accounts, the California legislature is trying to follow suit. But free speech advocates worry that these laws will infringe on the First Amendment rights of many kids and even adults. However, Aaron Mackey, the free speech and transparency litigation director at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, says there is growing sentiment to regulate and protect children from the harms of social media. “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Mackey about how we can still protect kids and consumers without restricting free speech.

Transcribed - Published: 6 April 2026

On this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review,” Big Tech operations in the Middle East from companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft could be targeted by Iran. And California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a new AI executive order with a not-so-thinly veiled message to the Trump administration. But first, Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX reportedly took a first step towards a highly anticipated initial public offering this week. The company made a confidential filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that potentially puts it on track to go public at a more than $2 trillion valuation in June. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Paresh Dave, senior writer at WIRED, to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2026

It is day 34 of the internet blackout in Iran. But while it is the longest in their history, it does not mean that Iranians are without internet. In Iran, there is the global internet, and then the intranet, or National Information Network, which is controlled by the Iranian government. Right now, only the NIN is available, and Iranians have been digitally isolated from the outside world, according to Amir Rashidi, the director for digital rights and security at the Miaan Group, a human rights nonprofit. “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Rashidi about the current status of internet connection in Iran.

Transcribed - Published: 2 April 2026

In rare verdicts, juries in New Mexico and Los Angeles sided against multiple Big Tech companies last week. In Los Angeles, Meta and Youtube were found liable for intentionally creating addictive products, while in New Mexico, Meta was found to have violated state law and misled consumers on child safety guardrails. The result of these two cases will ripple to the thousands of pending cases against Big Tech companies across the country and could impact future legislation. “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Eric Goldman, co-director at Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute, about the verdicts.

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2026

The promise of artificial intelligence is that it will take on all the boring tasks we don’t want to do and free us up to do the fun, high-level work. But managing the AI tools can be its own kind of work. A new study from the Boston Consulting Group found that when workers have to closely monitor and manage their AI tools can cause cognitive exhaustion, which they dubbed “AI brain fry.” Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Matt Kropp, managing director and senior partner at BCG and one of the co-authors of this new study.

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2026

In baseball, calling balls and strikes is a kind of art form. Now, a little more science is being added to the artistry. Major League Baseball has introduced the automated ball-strike, or ABS, challenge system. If a batter, catcher, or pitcher disagrees with the human umpire's call, he can tap his hat. Then, the ABS system uses cameras to say whether the pitch was indeed in the batter's strike zone. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Nola Agha, professor of sports management at the University of San Francisco, to learn more.

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2026

The prediction market platform Kalshi announces new rules this week. Plus, the Department of Labor introduces an AI literacy course. But first, a jury in Los Angeles this week found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in what’s being called a landmark case. The social media companies were accused of intentionally designing their platforms to be addictive, which caused harm to a young user’s mental health. The companies were ordered to pay $6 million in damages — and they’ve told media outlets they disagree with the verdict and are exploring their legal options. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2026

It's been two years exactly since the Francis Scott Key Bridge here in Baltimore was hit by a container ship, the Dali, causing it to collapse. When it fell, the state lost a well-traveled highway that served commuters as well as truckers moving goods around the port of Baltimore. Now, the state is rebuilding the bridge. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Jim Harkness, chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority, about how the new bridge will incorporate new technology.

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2026