Episode

AI bots are collecting debts — or at least trying to

Podcast: Marketplace All-in-One
Published: Jun 3, 2026
Duration seconds: 450
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Canonical source: https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/06/03/ai-bots-are-collecting-debts-or-at-least-trying-to
Audio: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/marketplace/tech_report/2026/06/03/tech_20260603_0603_MP_TECH_pod_128.mp3?awCollectionId=mkp-AllNOne&awEpisodeId=01KT4JFZXWNGJ1XHEJPN7FNMMJ
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Summary

If you have a debt, you may get a call, a letter or a text prodding you to pay it back. Now, that call could come from an AI agent. The AI debt collection market is expected to reach $16 billion by 2034, according to the Kaplan Group. Kate Nibbs of Wired has been reporting on this and said these bots are not as effective at getting people to pay back the money they owe.