Marketplace Tech

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 controls and features intended to support studying without the cognitive offloading that often happens.

Plus, the surge in construction of AI data centers has increased the value of basically any component that goes into them. Now, thieves are increasingly targeting cargo shipments of materials bound for data centers. And Amazon is expanding its drone deliveries. Paresh Dave at Wired joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino for these stories.

Everything we talked about:

“Introducing ChatGPT for Teens: Built for learning, backed by protections” from OpenAI

“OpenAI’s Second-Quarter Sales Show Tepid Growth Compared With Anthropic” from The Wall Street Journal

“States Seek $200 Billion From Meta Over Child Social Media Addiction Claims” from The New York Times

“‘The Worst I’ve Ever Seen’: Cargo Thefts Have Turned Violent in Pursuit of AI Hardware” from Wired

“Amazon Prime Air drone delivery is expanding to nearly 500 US cities and towns this year” from Amazon

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 every day.

And because those cables hold so much data and carry so much money, they’re also a potential security threat. That may explain why the U.S. and China are vying for control over the technology — and why the Trump administration is ramping up spending to replace cables in the Caribbean and Central America.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Erin Murphy, the managing director for Asia at Redpoint Advisors, about why these cables play a key role in geopolitics.

More on this:

US is considering big boost to anti-China spending globally from The Associated Press

Risk Beneath the Waves: Safeguarding Subsea Cables for a Secure Global Network from CSIS

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 possibility of future attacks.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Nikita Shah, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about other vulnerable infrastructure and the steps that states can take to strengthen cybersecurity.

More on this:

How Tehran’s Use of Cyber Operations in the U.S.-Iran Conflict Has Evolved from CSIS

A Leaked Memo Ties Cyberattacks on Minnesota Water Utilities to Iran | WIRED from WIRED

New York awards $9M to protect water systems after cyberattacks in other states - Gothamist from Gothamist

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 becoming a bottleneck for the growing space industry.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wants to make it easier for space companies to build new spaceports to make way for the increasing number of rocket launches. The agency has proposed waiving some environmental requirements for space launch. Daniel Ackerman has been reporting on the space industry as part of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT.

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, of course, Suno AI tools to unsigned musicians.

Tatiana Cirisano, vice president of music strategy at MIDiA Research, which consults in entertainment, discusses more on this.