Marketplace All-in-One

The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, out this morning indicates that inflation tempered last month. FHN Financial Chief Economist Christopher Low helps us look behind the numbers. And, China’s holdings of developing countries’ debt is beginning to play into the wider U.S.-China relationship, says David Dollar of the Brookings Institution.

As the new Congress gets underway, one priority for a bipartisan group of senators led by Massachusetts’ Ed Markey is getting rid of corporate “junk fees,” starting with ones airlines charge parents to sit with their young children. It’s a sentiment that’s been echoed by President Biden, who focused on extraneous fees in his recent State of the Union address. Recent economic data has been positively upbeat, but economist Julia Coronado warns that some of the good news could be overstated because of seasonal trends. And, a look inside the world of regenerative agriculture, a greener alternative to traditional farming.

From the BBC World Service: There’s been no rest for industrial unrest in Europe as another week of strikes kick off across the continent. We hear from France, Portugal and Spain. Plus, the authorities in Turkey make arrests over suspected building violations in the wake of the deadly earthquake. And, many economies depend on remittances – money sent home from workers or families overseas – but tighter budgets around the world mean less money is being sent to Pakistan at a time when it’s struggling with a foreign currency crisis.

The new wave of generative artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT and DALL-E, has got the tech business in a frenzy.

Venture capitalists are pouring money into new AI startups: Investments in generative AI have already exceeded $2 billion. But there’s lots of unknown unknowns about the innovation. There’s virtually no oversight from the government, and teachers, artists, researchers and others are raising concerns.

“There’s so much happening under the hood that we don’t get access to ... there needs to be much more transparency,” said Alex Hanna, director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute.

On the show today: why AI is getting so much attention these days, ethical issues with the tech and what lawmakers should focus on when trying to regulate it. Plus, why some say it could exacerbate the climate crisis.

In the News Fix, some Kia and Hyundai cars keep getting stolen, and insurance companies are taking notice. Plus, we might spend the most on health care, but health in the United States falls behind other high-income countries by several measures. And, why you might want to get ready for some inflation whiplash.

Later, we’ll hear from a listener who’s pro-ChatGPT when it comes to writing cover letters. And in the spirit of Dry January, Elva Ramirez, author of “Zero Proof: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking,” gives us a little history lesson on mocktails (or cleverages).

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Investors seek to profit from groundbreaking ‘generative AI’ start-ups” from Financial Times
• • Alex Hanna’s “Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000” streamed weekly on Twitch
• • “AI rockets ahead in vacuum of U.S. regulation” from Axios
• • “Robots trained on AI exhibited racist and sexist behavior” from The Washington Post
• • “What jobs are affected by AI? Better-paid, better-educated workers face the most exposure” from the Brookings Institution
• • “Yellen Sees Low Inflation as More Likely Long-Term Challenge” from Bloomberg
• • “State Farm says it has stopped insuring some Kia, Hyundai vehicles” from CBS News
• • “Health care spending in the US is nearly double that of other wealthy nations: report” from The Hill

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. Leave us a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART, and your submission may be featured in a future episode.

The remote working trend that started during the pandemic may be tapering off as employers require employees to come back in the office, but it’s likely to stick around in some form. According to Chris Farrell, that’s because employers that offer remote work will now be able to distinguish themselves in the labor market. The U.S. government is imposing economic restrictions on the Chinese firms that manufacture balloons from U.S. technology. And, consumers in the coming year may be a bit more inclined to shop cautiously as the economy slows and pocketbooks tighten.