The Daily Folgen

For years, the government has been trying to rein in Big Tech, pursuing some of the largest and most powerful companies on the internet. This week, the government takes on Google in the first monopoly trial of the modern internet era.David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the case against the internet giant and what it might mean for the future if the it loses.Guest: David McCabe, a technology policy correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The 10-week trial amps up efforts to rein in Big Tech by targeting the core search business that turned Google into a $1.7 trillion behemoth.A federal judge said that the Justice Department could not move forward with a number of claims in antitrust complaints, narrowing the scope of the trial.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In early 2021, a Wikipedia editor peered into the future and saw what looked like a funnel cloud on the horizon: the rise of GPT-3, a precursor to the new chatbots from OpenAI. When this editor — a prolific Wikipedian who goes by the handle Barkeep49 on the site — gave the new technology a try, he could see that it was untrustworthy. The bot would readily mix fictional elements (a false name, a false academic citation) into otherwise factual and coherent answers. But he had no doubts about its potential. “I think A.I.’s day of writing a high-quality encyclopedia is coming sooner rather than later,” he wrote in “Death of Wikipedia,” an essay that he posted under his handle on Wikipedia itself. He speculated that a computerized model could, in time, displace his beloved website and its human editors, just as Wikipedia had supplanted the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which in 2012 announced it was discontinuing its print publication.Recently, when I asked this editor if he still worried about his encyclopedia’s fate, he told me that the newer versions made him more convinced that ChatGPT was a threat. “It wouldn’t surprise me if things are fine for the next three years,” he said of Wikipedia, “and then, all of a sudden, in Year 4 or 5, things drop off a cliff.”This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This episode contains descriptions of severe injuries. Last week, a devastating fire swept through a derelict building in Johannesburg that housed desperate families who had no place else to go. The authorities had been repeatedly warned that it was a potential firetrap. Nothing was done, and at least 76 people died.Lynsey Chutel, who covers southern Africa for The Times, explains how Johannesburg, once a symbol of the hope of post-apartheid South Africa, became an emblem of just how bad the country’s breakdown has become.Guest: Lynsey Chutel, a southern Africa correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: An extensive paper trail revealed that the authorities in Johannesburg were warned repeatedly about the dangers in the building that burned down.Johannesburg, with a severe shortage of affordable housing, has hundreds of illegally occupied derelict buildings that officials and housing advocates say have become firetraps.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.