Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

Today on “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review,” we're looking at Apple's latest software and operating system updates. Also, there's a tentative labor deal between video game actors and studios. And we'll remember legendary Apple software engineer Bill Atkinson, who died at the age of 74. We begin with Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference which came and went this week with some mixed reactions. Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, Columnist for The Information, to get her take on this year’s WWDC. Tech Bytes for June 13More on everything we talked about“Apple fails to clear a low bar on AI” - from The Wall Street Journal“Apple underwhelms at WWDC with incremental AI changes, new software name and ‘liquid glass’ design” - from The Associated Press”Video game performers on strike for almost a year over AI issues reach a tentative deal” - from The Associated Press“Videogame voice actors strike 'suspended' following agreement with game companies: 'All SAG-AFTRA members are instructed

Building work has started in the Finnish capital Helsinki on what’s expected to become the biggest startup campus in Europe. Finland’s government says it wants the small Nordic nation to offer the best startup ecosystem in Europe. The BBC’s Maddy Savage has this story.

There's a trial run taking place over a type of digital wallet for data. Consumers are in control, and they can sell their data to the highest bidder. This trial run is taking place in Brazil, the first country to try something like this on a national scale. Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke with Sao Paolo-based journalist Gabriel Daros. He's been covering the story for the news site Rest of World.

The International Energy Agency projects the global market value of critical minerals could reach almost $800 billion by 2040. That's because we must have them for the electrified future. And right now, China is a dominant supplier.The Trump administration wants to find other sources, and it's looking to U.S. and international waters to mine minerals on the ocean floor. Marketplace contributor Daniel Ackerman has been reporting on the deep-sea mining companies that are working to figure out how to harvest in unforgiving terrain.

There’s a lawsuit right now that’s testing the question of whether AI chatbots are protected by the First Amendment. And before we get into it, a warning that our story today includes discussion of suicide. Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke with Jane Bambauer, law professor at the University of Florida, who’s been following this case.

Yoshua Bengio, one of the so-called godfathers of AI, wants it to be less human. Plus, a federal judge temporarily blocked a law in Florida that would ban kids under 14 from getting social media accounts.But first, Meta announced an energy deal with one of the country's biggest operators of nuclear reactors. Marketplace’s Nova Safo is joined by Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at the venture capital firm Collab Capital, to break down these tech stories from the week.

We've been looking at how technology is changing agriculture. Last month, we visited Central California where there's new investment in everything from electric tractors and leaf sensors to upskilling farmworkers.Today, Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams visits our neighbor to the north. Specifically, Canada's first fully-automated greenhouse. It's cost millions to set up, and it's just in time for a trade war.

AI-generated deepfakes are everywhere on social media. Now, you can take a test developed by Northwestern University to see how well you spot them. Marketplace’s Nova Safo took the test, sifting through a bunch of real and fake images. He got five out of six right, which is the average in a study Northwestern conducted. Lead researcher Matt Groh also helped develop a litmus test, a series of things to look for to spot deepfakes.

On this episode of “Marketplace Tech,” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Christopher Mims, a tech journalist at The Wall Street Journal, about the recent evolution of brain computer interfaces — technology that has enabled people with paralysis to move prosthetic limbs or type out communication using computer implants in their brains — and the neurotech startups trying to bring their implants to a larger market by making them less invasive.

Facial recognition systems use artificial intelligence to analyze patterns in faces, and they've come under increasing scrutiny, particularly in policing. There have been multiple instances of false positives leading to the arrest and detainment of innocent people. There's no federal regulation of this technology, but at least a dozen states have laws that limit its use. So, some law enforcement authorities have turned to a new system called Track, made by a company called Veritone. It doesn't analyze faces, but looks to the rest of the body for clues — things like clothing, body type or hair — according to recent reporting by James O'Donnell for MIT Technology Review.