AI-Made Viruses, A July Jobs Report, & Meta’s Child Harms Case 8/7/26

In a surprise to Wall Street, the Labor Department reported a loss of 23,000 nonfarm jobs in July (cnbc.com/2026/08/07/jobs-report-july-2026.html). CNBC’s Rick Santelli and Steve Liesman break down the report and what it means for the broader health of the economy. Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) is focused on AI’s impact on the labor force (cnbc.com/2026/05/19/ai-hiring-slowdown-skilled…) in his latest legislation to tax hyperscalers, while MIT Associate Professor Kevin Esvelt is closely watching AI’s achievements in science. He considers the implications of a new study from the Arc Institute that showed AI-created viruses are viable in the real world. Plus, in a child harms case in New Mexico, Meta (cnbc.com/2026/08/06/meta-to-pay-into-567-milli…) was ordered to pay $567 million into an abatement fund, and OpenAI plans to release a home device to consumers.

Rep. Greg Casar - 14:23

Rick Santelli & Steve Liesman - 25:24

Kevin Esvelt - 32:13

In this episode:

Greg Casar, @RepCasar (x.com/RepCasar)

Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk (x.com/JoeSquawk)

Melissa Lee, @MelissaLeeCNBC (x.com/MelissaLeeCNBC)

Steve Liesman, @steveliesman (x.com/steveliesman?lang=en)

Rick Santelli, @RickSantelli (x.com/ricksantelli?lang=en)

Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie (x.com/Kramer_Katie)

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