Marketplace Tech

Interpol estimates scam losses totaled almost $500 billion globally last year.

In many cases, it’s not just one bad actor but an entire network of scammers. And Cambodia has become a major hub for the industry. Last year, the U.S. issued more than 100 sanctions tied to fraud operations in the country.

Reporter Leila Goldstein takes us behind the scenes of an abandoned scam compound in southeast Cambodia.

In September, OpenAI said that its models had solved one of math's famous Millennium Prize problems. Then, the lab dropped more than 700 papers tackling another 400 complex problems with more breakthroughs to come.

These developments have caused something of an existential crisis in the math world. But Alex Kontorovich, a professor of math at Rutgers University, says they're a gift.

More on this:

“Sharing AI progress in mathematics” from OpenAI

“OpenAI Releases Findings on 377 Math Problems, Further Roiling Field” from The New York Times

“The Shape of Math To Come” from arXiv

Anthropic formally filed to go public this week and about a third of its paperwork is dedicated to potential risks — including political ones. We'll get into it on today's “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Plus, it’s a big week for big tech earnings: Microsoft pleased investors with a more restrained approach to AI spending, but still announced it’s offering buyouts to 60,000 employees. Meanwhile, Google’s parent company Alphabet took a plunge on Wall Street.

Here to help us unpack this week’s tech news is Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios.

Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

More on this:

Anthropic warns investors of AI’s ‘existential risk to humanity’ in IPO prospectus, reports say — from CNBC

Microsoft is offering buyouts to around 60,000 employees. Read the memo — from Business Insider

Meta eyes record $97.5 billion equity raise to fund AI expansion — from Reuters

Scoop: FTC demands Anthropic execs testify in probe — from Axios

Consumer electronics and AI data centers need memory chips. But there are only a handful of companies in the world that make them. The surge in demand has caused memory shortages and price spikes for everything, including our all-important smartphones.

Gerrit Schneemann is principal analyst at Counterpoint Research, which recently reported global phone prices have jumped by an average of 15%, and even more in markets where consumers can least afford it.

More on this:

“The AI boom is making the world’s cheapest smartphones disappear” from Rest of World

“Global Existing Smartphone Prices Climb About 15% in 2026, New Launches 25% Costlier YoY as OEMs Maneuver Memory Price Hikes” from Counterpoint Research

Halloween haunts have long relied on a little technical wizardry to bring their terrors to life —from lighting and animatronics to digital decorations.

But these days, the technology behind those scares is getting increasingly sophisticated, and the spectacles more elaborate.

We got a glimpse behind the scenes at the Hollywood Haunted Hayride, put on by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment in Los Angeles.

Listen for more … if you dare.