Marketplace All-in-One

There's a growing market for AI models that promise to recreate the experience of interacting with a lost loved one. They're sometimes called generative ghosts, and they're the topic for today's “Uncanny AI,” our series about sometimes-unsettling experiences with this technology.

Jack Manning, a Ph.D. candidate studying information science at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been looking into this. He recently published a study on how people experience talking to generative ghosts.

More on this:

“Designing Conversations with the Dead: How People Engage with Generative Ghosts” from Association for Computing Machinery

“When AI is used to immortalize the dead, what are the ethical implications?” from Marketplace Tech

A 2020 law aimed at eliminating surprise medical expenses has shifted some unpredictable costs away from patients. The law was supposed to incentivize jointly set reasonable prices between hospitals and insurers, but instead, there’s been a whole lot of finger pointing — and employers are left holding the bag. Also in this episode: The agriculture economy goes K-shaped, a sailor finds a support network in her solo circumnavigation, and we talk through the week’s economic headlines.

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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:

The stock market isn’t the economy — except when maybe it is?
In the agricultural heart of the country, it's a tale of two farm economies
How a law to protect patients from surprise billing shifted the cost to employers
Cole Brauer sailed solo around the world. She plans to do it again

Two years ago, Congress approved millions of dollars in funding to clean some of the nation’s dirtiest beaches. Many of those beaches are also some of the hardest to access. But then, cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency effectively killed the project. Now, there’s no clear future for all that trash. In this morning's podcast, we head to a remote Alaskan beach to hear where cleanup efforts stand now. Plus, economist Judy Shelton is joining the Treasury Department as a counselor to Secretary Scott Bessent.

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 from this episode:

America’s dirtiest beaches are also the toughest to reach. Trump’s DOGE made them even harder to clean.

The Trump administration announced yesterday that it will no longer allow Microsoft, Adobe, and a handful of other companies to sponsor foreign workers for green cards and accused nine universities of abusing the J-1 temporary student visa program. Earlier this week, it also proposed a rule raising the fee for international students who want to stay in the U.S. and work temporarily through the Optional Practical Training program from about $500 to $70,000. We have more. Then, will Minnesotan restaurants be willing to dish up invasive crayfish?

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.

President Donald Trump named a new superhero-sounding AI task force this week dubbed the “Super Intelligence Force.” It's led by Jay Clayton, the new AI Czar and also director of national intelligence.

Plus, Democrats in the Senate blocked a bill to address data center energy costs ahead of the midterm elections, and a new poll shows Americans are not feeling too great about how our leaders in government are dealing with the risks from AI. Cristiano Lima-Strong, senior AI and government reporter at Bloomberg Government, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to break down these stories on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”