Tech Report: Buy now pay later use surges among young Americans, Amazon unveils AI-powered Alexa+

"Buy now, pay later" plans are rapidly growing in popularity among young Americans.

(LILAMAX)- “Buy now, pay later” plans are rapidly growing in popularity among young Americans, but not everyone is convinced they’re a smart financial choice.

Haley Sacks, a personal finance influencer, says people shouldn’t use them at all. She argues that credit cards have important benefits that BNPL plans don’t, like rewards and consumer protections.

Amazon’s popular voice assistant finally features artificial intelligence technology. The new version, dubbed Alexa+, has seemed inevitable since ChatGPT added an AI voice mode in 2023. The remodeled device boasts some improvements, including more human-like speech. However, tech experts say it’s not yet on par with ChatGPT, and it doesn’t even perform as well as the old Alexa for certain basic tasks.

AI is creating billionaires at a record pace, boosted by blockbuster fundraising for big AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and others. Combined with the soaring stock prices of Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft and other publicly traded AI-related firms, new billionaires are being minted quickly.

Lawmakers want Mark Zuckerberg to end an Instagram feature that allows people to see users’ locations in real time, arguing it exposes children to “pedophiles and traffickers,” among other dangers. U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal sent Zuckerberg a strongly worded letter Friday, urging him to “immediately abandon” the feature and accusing Meta of having an “abysmal” track record of protecting its youngest users. A Meta spokesperson didn’t address complaints about data sharing but told the New York Post the feature is strictly optional.