QVC, which pioneered live TV shopping shows, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. Leadership made the next step clear: a pivot away from television and toward something akin to social commerce, like livestreamed sales on TikTok Shop. But can the legacy brand compete with new, social media-driven shopping platforms? And after that, we wrap up Kai and Nela’s trip to Vietnam with visits to an AI startup and a neighborhood of expats.

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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.

Recently, Seattle’s tech workforce has been hit by wave after wave of layoffs. Some company execs say it’s AI’s fault. KUOW’s Monica Nickelsburg joins Kimberly on today’s show to share what she’s hearing from tech workers. And, we’ll get into another side of the AI boom: the push to build more data centers and the pushback from locals. Plus, a round of Seattle trivia!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Booming" from KUOW
• Why Seattle tech companies are still laying off workers from The Seattle Times
• "From coder to shuttle driver: Where Seattle's laid off tech workforce is now" from KUOW
• "A small town in Central Washington is Microsoft's answer to the data center backlash" from KUOW
• "What produce prompted the creation of the Market?" from the Pike Place Market Foundation
• "Seattle doesn't have many unicorns. Does it matter?" From GeekWire
• "Scents from a Mall: The Sticky, Untold Story of Cinnabon" from Seattle Met
• "Seattle area expected to generate $845 million from FIFA World Cup" from Fox 13 Seattle

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Iran declared on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened for all commercial vessels. While the news caused stocks to rally and oil prices to drop, it’s unclear yet whether or not the market reaction is premature. Plus, we take a look into the aging demographics of first-time homebuyers and their shrinking share of the housing market.

The head of the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday that Europe could run out of jet fuel in few as six weeks. The continent is the biggest consumer of jet fuel shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and ongoing closures in the strait could lead to swaths of flight cancellations. Also on the program: we discuss shifting expectations for American universities, our aging first-time homebuyer population, and changes at Netflix.

This week, Spotify is letting its users buy physical books. Plus, Amazon acquires the satellite service provide Globalstar. But first, state lawmakers in Illinois are considering a bill that says developers of large AI models can’t be held liable for critical harms caused by those models, as long as the developer doesn't intentionally or recklessly cause the harm and has published a safety protocol on its website.

A representative from OpenAI testified in favor of the bill; meanwhile, Wired reported this week that Anthropic is pushing for either major changes to the legislation, or for it to be killed completely. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Cautious employers are hiring more temporary workers, according to the Fed’s latest Beige Book. It's sort of a half-step toward creating permanent roles. The good news is temp jobs can be a leading indicator for overall job market strength. But contract work lacks the stability and benefits of full-time employment. Also in this episode: Kai visits a sprawling electronics street market and a tech startup in Vietnam, jet fuel shortages put Europe on edge, and we check in with a hog and soybean farmer in Illinois.

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.

Will AI take my job? On today’s show, Anthropic’s head of economics Peter McCrory sits down with Kimberly to answer our burning questions about artificial intelligence’s effects on the labor market. We’ll get into what Anthropic’s research shows about how people are using the company’s chatbot Claude and what that could mean for the future of the global economy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Snap's stock jumps on plans to axe 16% of its workforce citing AI efficiencies" from CNBC
• "Anthropic Economic Index report: Learning curves" from Anthropic
• "Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence" from Anthropic
• "Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption" from Anthropic
• "Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath" from Axios
• "Estimating AI productivity gains from Claude conversations" from Anthropic
• "What 81,000 people want from AI" from Anthropic

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

The Federal Reserve is meeting at the end of this month to figure out what to do with interest rates. They have a tough task ahead of them: weighing the job market, inflation, and a war in the Middle East that is "roiling supply chains in ways that are similar ... to what we saw emerging from the pandemic," said KPMG's Diane Swonk. Also on the show: Rising health insurance costs are dragging down wage growth.