Marketplace All-in-One

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.

After OpenAI’s rogue model incident in which a training model hacked into the company HuggingFace and stole confidential information, the discussion over whether models should be open or closed has intensified.

“Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carion spoke with Adam Segal at the Council of Foreign Relations about China’s soft power play in the global AI arms race.

More on this

“China Rewrites the ‘Soft Power’ Playbook for the A.I. Age” from the New York Times

“China's global AI strategy” From High Capacity by Kyle Chan

Permian Basin oil companies are reporting strong quarterly earnings, as the Iran war keeps prices up and supply restricted. West Texas, formerly in a slump, has seen an uptick in hiring and new rigs. But oil companies are moving cautiously — they want to avoid a bust after the boom. Also in this episode, more caution: Small businesses carefully weigh workforce expansion, the U.S. invests billions to prop up the Japanese yen, and a Colorado peach farmer preps for a water shortage.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Read the stories in today’s episode:

Why did the U.S. just spend billions to prop up the Japanese yen?
What the bond market is trying to tell us
How small- and medium-sized firms are navigating this labor market moment
Becoming a freelance court reporter helped this mom find herself
High oil prices lift all boats in the Permian Basin, but companies remain cautious
Peaches pay the bills for Western Colorado farmers, but drought makes their future uncertain

Japan's yen is up against the dollar this morning. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. Treasury Department bought up yen, boosting its value. Japan has been struggling with the low value of its currency. The purchase could help the U.S. though, too. We'll explain. Then, Trump also said over the weekend that the U.S. would back down from fresh attacks on Iran. What's that mean for oil prices?

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace Morning Report is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

The latest news on mortgage rates — crucial for would-be buyers and sellers — is not great. According to Freddie Mac, the average interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged up again last week to 6.66%. That puts the cost of borrowing to buy a home at the highest level we’ve seen in a year. We explain what's going on. Then, Google's AI summaries are leaving many publishers searching for new ways to reach customers.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace Morning Report is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Stories featured in this episode:

Mortgage rates just hit a one-year high
Google's AI search is changing who gets web traffic

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 possible.

However, according to a recent survey from Indeed, while employers have been keen on adopting the help of artificial intelligence, employees are hesitant to move past experimentation and into implementation.

Priya Rathod is a workplace trends editor at Indeed, and she said that in order to get across this great divide, employers need to focus on adequate training for employees and their managers.

“Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Rathod about the survey and how businesses can improve on AI adoption.