WSJ Tech News Briefing

In October 2021, Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta. For a company that had built its business on social media, it was a gamble to seemingly pivot to a future version of the internet that didn’t yet exist and wasn’t well understood. On this first episode of our special series on the metaverse, host Alex Ossola takes you back to the vision that CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out for the metaverse, what was going on at the company at the time of the name change and how people reacted both inside and outside the company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Apple stock rallies the day after the company reported earnings. And shares of Coinbase fall. Alex Ossola hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EV maker Tesla announced this week that it was laying off much of the team responsible for the company’s Supercharger network, the largest and most successful EV charging network in the U.S. The move caught employees, and others in the industry, by surprise. WSJ reporter Ryan Felton tells host Alex Ossola what a Tesla pullback in charging could mean for the broader U.S. EV market. Plus, how did an iPhone survive a fall out of an airplane, but others crack when they get tipped off the kitchen counter? WSJ senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern took on an experiment to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Universal Music and TikTok reach a new agreement. And Microsoft plans to invest over $2 billion in Malaysia. Alex Ossola hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tasks like streaming movies or generating answers from artificial intelligence systems require a lot of computing power. So more, bigger data centers are cropping up in an effort to meet the demand. And that means more energy. Local energy companies are turning to natural gas and even coal to keep them going. WSJ energy reporter Jennifer Hiller tells host Alex Ossola what that means for the country’s energy transition. Plus, rebooting your device works for everything from computers to trains. WSJ personal tech reporter Cordilia James talks about why it became our go-to tech fix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Chinese EV makers post higher sales. And Doordash posts record revenue. Alex Ossola hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, President Biden signed a law requiring the sale or ban of TikTok. But lawmakers’ concerns go back much farther. Some lawmakers and former employees of TikTok say that TikTok executives, particularly CEO Shou Chew, could have done more to prevent this outcome. WSJ tech reporter Georgia Wells tells host Alex Ossola about Chew’s missed opportunities to woo lawmakers. Plus, it’s a trend on TikTok to get AI systems like ChatGPT to talk to people like a boyfriend would… even if the systems weren’t designed that way. WSJ senior platform editor Julia Munslow undertook an experiment to find out just how hard it is to get the system to be R-rated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Binance founder is sentenced to four months in jail. And the European Union is investigating Meta over disinformation. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investments in artificial intelligence startups are heating up. Last year, investors poured more than $20 billion dollars into generative AI deals. But some of these companies, some of which have billion-dollar valuations, haven’t turned a profit or don’t have a product. WSJ venture-capital reporter Berber Jin tells host Alex Ossola more about this ecosystem, and why some are already concerned that it could be a bubble. Plus, scammers are using AI to target recent college grads looking for jobs. WSJ workplace reporter Ray Smith talks about how to stay safe online. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Beijing tentatively approves Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software. And federal regulators fine wireless carriers for sharing customer-location data. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has talked about offering a cheaper EV model for a while. A low-priced car could attract new customers who may not be able to afford Tesla’s more premium models. Last week, Musk said that cheaper cars could be coming as soon as late this year. WSJ columnist Tim Higgins tells host Alex Ossola what it would take to make that happen. Plus, Tesla was one of four tech companies to report first-quarter earnings last week. WSJ reporter Hardika Singh talks about the through-lines in those reports, and why artificial intelligence is defining the moment. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: ByteDance denies rumors that it is exploring a sale of TikTok. And several high-profile tech leaders join a new federal advisory board focused on the secure use of AI. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media platforms are full of posts by influencers talking up the latest generation of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. And it’s causing people to seek out the drugs, in some cases displacing doctors as the trusted authorities on whether to take one of the medicines. WSJ special writer Peter Loftus tells host Alex Ossola about what happens when social media and weight loss drugs overlap. Plus, a hack into healthcare technology company Change Healthcare has been called the most serious incident of its kind to strike the industry. Now, its parent company is digging into what happened. WSJ Pro Deputy Bureau Chief Kim Nash talks about the attack. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Microsoft’s profits rose in the first quarter. And Micron receives up to $6.1 billion to build three chip-making facilities. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, companies that make artificial intelligence tools including Open AI, Google and Meta agreed to incorporate new safety measures to protect children from exploitation and plug holes in their current defenses. A new alliance, led by a nonprofit called Thorn, is leading the charge. WSJ tech reporter Deepa Seetharaman tells host Alex Ossola about the problem, and how technology might help solve it. Plus, have you noticed that those online Captcha prompts to prove you’re human are getting harder? WSJ reporter Katie Deighton tells us how they’re trying to stay ahead of the bots. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Meta reports record first-quarter sales. And Google has delayed its timeline for eliminating cookies. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the demand for artificial intelligence grows, so does the need for more facilities to power it—namely, data centers. Data centers can take years to build because they require particular conditions, including cooling centers, ample electricity and real estate. Now, because of the AI boom, there’s a shortage of some of the key elements that data centers need. WSJ reporter Tom Dotan tells host Alex Ossola about what this means for the future of AI. Plus, startup Exowatt was created to power data centers via solar energy, and it’s already raised millions from investors. WSJ climate finance reporter Amrith Ramkumar talks about how the technology works. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: IBM nears an acquisition of cloud software provider HashiCorp. And Ericsson lays off more than 200 employees in China. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, wasn’t created to serve as the nation’s central system for detecting child exploitation online, but for the past 25 years, that’s what it’s done. A WSJ analysis and a Stanford report found that the nonprofit is contending with outdated technology and legal constraints as the number of reports soars. WSJ technology reporter Jeff Horwitz tells host Alex Ossola why change might be on the way. Plus, WSJ Heard on the Street columnist Dan Gallagher talks about what analysts are looking for in Meta’s first-quarter earnings tomorrow. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Sam Altman invests in a startup intended to provide clean energy to data centers. And Disney’s chief technology officer departs. Alex Ossola hosts. Listening on Google Podcasts? Here's our guide for switching to a different podcast player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices