Automation is coming. And although it's inevitably going to take jobs away, it's also going to create millions of new jobs, make production more efficient and kickstart entire new industries. The countries that invest in automation early, and in the retraining that will help workers transition to new types of jobs, could really jump ahead economically. That's partly why automation is a huge part of the Chinese government's Made in China 2025 initiative. That’s the country's plan to reduce its reliance on outside technology and create a tech economy that rivals the West. Automation is an especially big deal in China because there's so much manufacturing there. It's sometimes referred to as “the world's factory.” Marketplace’s China correspondent Jennifer Pak joins host Molly Wood to talk about how big a deal the transition to automation might be for China. (10/04/18)

This week, the United States, Mexico and Canada made a tentative trade deal that will replace NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. And while NAFTA is better known for, say, avocados and cars, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as it's known, is updated for the digital age. For example, it would protect internet companies like Facebook or Google from being sued over material that shows up on their services. It addresses how internet services and future 5G might work in all three countries. And it would make it easier for digital goods and data to cross borders. Molly talks about it with Victoria Espinel, who is on the federal Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations and is CEO of the software industry trade group called BSA / The Software Alliance. (10/03/18)

In the insanely popular video game "Fortnite," players can spend about five bucks to unlock dances called emotes for their characters to perform. And these dances are everywhere. You see them on playgrounds, in pro sports, and there are "Fortnite" dance classes.  But are they really "Fortnite" dances? Most of them appear borrowed, like the dance called “Ride the Pony,” which is pretty clearly “Gangnam Style.” There's the one called “Fresh,” which is a dead ringer for the “Carlton Dance” from the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Back in July, Chance the Rapper Tweeted at Epic Games, the maker of "Fortnite," and said it should give rappers and artists credit and cash for their dances. A rapper named 2 Milly has said he might sue Epic Games over his dance “Milly Rock,” which he alleges is “Swipe It” in "Fortnite." Host Molly Wood talks about it with Merlyne Jean-Louis, a lawyer and former dancer who's written about copyrighting choreography. (10/02/18)

Elon Musk must resign from Tesla's board of directors after a settlement on Saturday with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his tweets about taking the company private. He will stay on as CEO. It's tough to separate the conversation about Tesla from the conversation about Elon Musk. But let's talk about cars for a minute. Because it feels like electric car announcements are fast and furious lately. Ford is promising an electric crossover that's the size of a Tesla Model X but inspired by the Mustang. There are rumors of a $30,000 electric Volkswagen. Is Tesla's biggest problem actually competition? Molly talks with Maryann Keller, an auto industry analyst, about the new entries into the electric car market. (10/01/18)

TV is still the big dog when it comes to advertising. But it's slipping. Advertisers are moving their dollars online, fast. The money is mostly flowing to Facebook and Google because those platforms can use personal information to target ads specifically based on your interests. But the next frontier in TV ads is coming our way. AT&T just completed its purchase of Time Warner and has launched an ambitious new ad-tech strategy. The plan is to take all that data it has from wireless subscribers and its internet services and deliver way more targeted ads on television. Today on Marketplace Tech, we dig into how this would work in Quality Assurance, the segment where we take a closer look at a big tech story. Molly talks with Ad Age media reporter Jeanine Poggi. (09/28/18)

Much of the physical makeup of the internet lies on the ocean floor in the form of fiber optic cables that snake between continents. They’re what allow you to send email or Facebook messages to friends around the world. But just like roads get clogged with traffic, these information highways are starting to get clogged, too. An ambitious initiative out of Finland is underway to solve the problem by laying a new route through the one body of water still largely untouched by sea cables: the Arctic Ocean. (09/26/18)

Searching the web is one of the most revealing things you can do. It shows what you're looking to buy, where you want to go and if you're worried about a weird rash. When you search Google, those searches help power its huge digital advertising networks, which is why you might see skin cream ads for that rash days later, on a totally different website. But do people know how much information they're giving up? And do they care? Molly Wood looks at search engine DuckDuckGo - the “anti-Google” - and growing investment in it. (09/24/18)

It used to be that stories of tech companies breaking all the rules and fighting city hall were considered sexy. But right now we’re having conversations with more suspicion about things like unproven driverless technology, online advertising, unstoppable data collection and automation. Yet, here with a defense of tech’s disruptive mentality is Bradley Tusk. He's a political operative turned tech consultant who has a new book called “The Fixer.” It’s full of pirate stories of him helping heroic startups like Uber work around innovation-killing politicians and their rules. Molly Wood talks with Tusk about the politics of tech. (09/24/18)

This week, we've been covering how technology has changed investing and will continue to change it. That conversation leads us to artificial intelligence. A Wall Street industry poll earlier this year said a majority of hedge funds are now using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help them make trades. Huge quant funds are even fighting Google and Facebook for engineers to crunch tons of data and build algorithms to predict the next great stock buy. This has all made markets faster, more efficient and more accessible to online investors. On the other hand, there are some worrying aspects. We dig into that in Quality Assurance, our Friday segment where we take a deeper look at a big tech story. Host Molly Wood talks with Simone Foxman of Bloomberg. (09/21/18)