Booming

Data centers were on the ballot this midterm, and they lost big. Dozens of initiatives and candidates promising to slow the artificial intelligence buildout prevailed. 

That could spell trouble for Seattle's tech giants. Microsoft and Amazon are among the biggest data center developers in the country. And increasingly, they've been building them in states that just elected governors promising to close that open door to data centers. 

That could push these companies to start looking outside the country... or beyond. 

On this week's episode, will the blue wave dump cold water on the tech industry's AI ambitions? Or will they raise them... all the way to the stratosphere? 

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S. spends over a hundred million dollars a year importing seaweed from faraway places like Korea. Entrepreneurs have long hoped to build a local industry in the hospitable waters of the Salish Sea and use seaweed to make everything from food to fabric. 

But getting kelp farming off the ground requires a lot of trial and error -- and some farmers are running out of time and money.  

On today's episode, what will it take to get commercial seaweed off the ground (or the seafloor) in the Puget Sound region? And how much could it boost our local economy?

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Millions of people have enlisted AI agents to do everything from ordering dinner to booking a family vacation.

Open AI has Dots. Anthropic has Claude Duet. And Meta has Muse. Together, agents like these are transforming the way people automate their daily lives. 

But trusting these personal AI task rabbits to make decisions on our behalf can come with real risks... especially when businesses use them. 

On today's episode, what are the risks if we let AI agents make decisions for us? And as agents run more and more of the economy, where do humans fit in? 

GUEST:
Chirag Shah, professor at the University of Washington's Information School. He’s the author of Agent Nation: How Autonomous AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Society—and What We Can Do About It.  

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anyone who’s been to a bar or wedding lately has probably noticed that people just aren’t drinking like they used to. A Gallup poll from last year found alcohol consumption in the U.S. is at an all-time low. 

And that's sobering news for some of Washington’s most important business sectors.

On today's episode, how can Washington’s iconic wine and beer industries adapt to our rapidly changing relationship with alcohol?

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Attendance at the big movie theater chains has been slowly creeping back up since it dropped off a cliff during the pandemic. But a lot of smaller, neighborhood movie theaters are still struggling to survive -- the kind with just a few screens and show a lot of independent or low-budget films. 

On today's episode, what could save small cinemas? Spoiler: It’ll take more than just movies.  

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People getting other people to buy stuff is one of the oldest businesses in the world. It's called advertising... or these days, influencing. 

But more and more, the people selling everything from makeup to testosterone supplements aren't even real. They're AI-generated, virtual influencers -- fake human-like characters who post about their lives, just like real people do.

The global business of virtual humans is currently worth around 15 billion dollars. That’s the combined value of what companies are projected to spend on them this year. 

On today's episode, why are fake humans so much better than actual ones at selling us stuff? And what could that mean in the future? 

GUEST:
Joseph Turow, professor at University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication and author of The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age. 

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, big tech has been pushing for more technology in schools. By the end of the pandemic, the takeover was complete: 96 percent of public schools in America reported giving laptops or tablets to students.

But new research suggests bringing devices into the classroom may not have been the best idea -- and artificial intelligence is raising the stakes.

Microsoft acknowledges its first campaign to get tech into schools left many teachers and parents feeling like an afterthought. As it offers new AI lesson planners and chatbot tutors, the company says this time around will be different.

On today's episode, can Microsoft win back the trust of educators as AI moves into the classroom?

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Things in San Francisco are starting to feel very sci-fi, and it seems like every day we’re learning more about artificial intelligence agents gone wild. Calls are increasingly mounting for someone to rein in this technology before it’s too late.

On today's episode, how worried should we be about rogue AI?  And can our biggest homegrown AI company do anything about it?  

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For years, people have been comparing Seattle to San Francisco. 

We've both got the water, the hills... and of course, the tech workers and the exploding real estate prices. The general consensus has been that whatever happens in San Francisco, will eventually happen in Seattle.

But now, the AI boom is driving us apart.

On today's episode, what do the diverging stories of San Francisco and Seattle tell us about how AI is reshaping the economy? And what could it mean for the cost of housing, here? 

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re working hard on some exciting upcoming episodes and we’ve got some busy weeks ahead, so here's one of our favorite episodes from this past year.

It's about why companies that cater to the middle class are disappearing, and what that means for the businesses we love.  

This episode originally aired last spring. You can read the original story here: The K-shaped economy: Why diners are dying but yachts are booming.

Thank you, as always, for listening to our show. We’ll have a new episode out next week. 

Do you have a story idea for us? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at [email protected].

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.