Episode

Can AI improve your odds of finding good childcare?

Podcast
Marketplace Tech
Published
May 5, 2026
Duration seconds
515
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/05/05/can-ai-improve-your-odds-of-finding-good-childcare
Audio
https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/marketplace/tech_report/2026/05/05/tech_20260505_0505_MP_TECH_pod_128.mp3?awCollectionId=mkp-MKPtech&awEpisodeId=01KQJFV5FCMMZ5VGB7W9W0W76S
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/marketplace-tech-318132/episodes/can-ai-improve-your-odds-of-finding-good-childcare
Markdown
/podcast/marketplace-tech-318132/can-ai-improve-your-odds-of-finding-good-childcare.md

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Summary

The startup Winnie is a marketplace for childcare. It works like this: Parents type in the age of their kid and their zip code, then different childcare providers in the area will pop up. You can also filter by languages spoken, and whether you want a childcare center or home-based daycare or another option. It's free for parents to use. But the company was founded back in 2016, when AI search wasn’t really a thing. And Winnie’s CEO and co-founder Sara Mauskopf says parents now want to be able to describe what they're looking for in natural language. So, Winnie has had to adapt. It's just released an AI-powered search tool. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Mauskopf to learn more about their new AI search engine and the challenges of keeping up with the fast-paced AI sector.