Marketplace Tech

Google survives yet another antitrust case without having to break up its business. Plus, New York City public schools announced a new policy this week banning the use of AI among elementary and middle school students.

But first, John Ternus took over as CEO of Apple after a 15-year run by Tim Cook. Joanna Stern, founder of the media company New Things, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to explain more about what this means for the iPhone maker on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Everything we talked about

“Apple Begins Its Next Balancing Act as New C.E.O. Takes Over” from The New York Times

“Why Apple’s folding iPhone will be ‘Ultra’ in name only” from Macworld

“In a Big Win, Google Avoids a Breakup of Its Ad Tech Business” from The New York Times

“Nation’s largest school district bans AI in the classroom through 8th grade” from CNN

“Three AI agents. One school shopping list.” from New Things

Even if artificial intelligence leads to a more prosperous future in the long run, most agree there will be a lot of disruption in the meantime. Marketplace’s senior correspondent for Future Effects, David Brancaccio, explores how that AI disruption will mean layoffs, underemployment and ultimately less income tax revenue for the government. Experts say now’s the time to revamp the tax system for the age of AI.

The banking sector is figuring out how to navigate AI.

And the stakes are high. The tech has raised red flags over potential bias, particularly when it comes to lending practices.

But it could also make some banking operations more efficient.

Which would be especially valuable for smaller banks — which tend to operate with fewer resources than their bigger competitors.

Marketplace’s Justin Ho spoke with bankers at some smaller institutions about how they’re approaching the technology — and their concerns about the future of AI in banking.

Amazon's popular brand of video-enabled smart home and security devices, Ring, is adding a new encryption system called TAKE — Throw Away the Key Encryption. It allows users to encrypt all video their home cameras capture while keeping advanced AI-enabled capabilities and security features active.

The company already offered traditional end-to-end encryption, but that disabled advanced security features processed on the cloud that required Ring servers to maintain access to the video. Ring’s founder, Jamie Siminoff, says TAKE works by changing — or "throwing away" — the encryption key so Amazon servers don't have permanent access.

More on this:

“Ring introduces TAKE, setting a new industry standard for default encryption and control” from Amazon

“Ring says its new encryption limits what it can give police” from The Verge

“Ring Superbowl Ad Shows Americans How Powerful Surveillance Systems Have Become, Freaks Them Out” from The American Civil Liberties Union

Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be responsible for collecting the DNA of nearly a million people in 2025. The genetic material is then sent to the FBI, where it can be stored for future policing. That’s according to an updated report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Stevie Glaberson, a co-author of the report, about the DNA collection practice — and its legal implications.

More on this:

Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing | Center on Privacy and Technology | Georgetown Law from Georgetown Law

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children | WIRED from Wired