CANADALAND

Carney just released his new 55-page strategy, “AI for All,” to much fanfare, over $2B in funding commitments, and…very few details on how he’s going to accomplish any of it.

Canadians were at the forefront of AI’s creation, yet we’re already falling behind in harnessing this revolutionary technology. But most of us aren’t convinced that AI is safe: not for the environment, or the kids, or our personal privacy. Plus, it seems like no one’s figured out how to actually make a return on their investment.
​
So, is Canada investing in a product that’s doomed to fail?

Host: James Nicholson
Credits: Andrea Varsany (Producer), Kallan Lyons (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)
Guest: Douglas Soltys

Apply to CANADALAND’s Audio Journalism Fellowship at labs.canadaland.com

Go to canadaland.com/live to find out more about our live show, June 18th at the Halifax Convention Centre!

Further reading:
Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All - Government of Canada
Canada’s AI strategy won’t build necessary trust - The Globe and Mail
Canada’s AI strategy promises to protect citizens. Critics say it still lacks teeth | BetaKit
Canada Finally Has a National AI Strategy. Experts Hate It | The Walrus
Carney government to ban social media for kids younger than 16, but will allow exemptions - National Post
Minister defends Canada’s new AI strategy | Front Burner [YouTube]
This is our time: Canada’s national AI strategy is an incredible step forward - The Globe and Mail
Anthopic, OpenAI Should Not Be Allowed to IPO, Says Ed Zitron - Bloomberg [YouTube]
BetaKit Most Ambitious - Betakit
Ottawa to direct CRTC to scrap demands for streamers to fund local news, niche broadcasters - The Globe and Mail

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If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
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Host Sam spent a day at Canada's biggest defence trade show asking about autonomous weapons.

The good news: Canada says humans must always be part of the decision to kill. The bad news: nobody can define what that means, the US just voted against a UN resolution banning killer robots, and Pete Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be an "AI-first warfighting force."

Sam talks to an AI researcher, an underwater robot CEO, a defence contractor who tells it like it is, and an ethicist who somehow remains hopeful.

Have a tip? sam@canadaland.com

Host: Noor Azrieh
Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Guests: Jason Millar, Randy Goebel

Background reading:
For Canada, the march of the killer robots is getting hard to avoid | The Logic
Judge temporarily blocks Pentagon's blacklist of AI company Anthropic | CBC News
At Canada’s biggest weapons show, the soldiers were the target | Globe and Mail
Canada’s largest arms expo drawing record turnout as Ottawa boosts defence spending

Go to Canadaland.com/live to find out more about our live show, June 18th at the Halifax Convention Centre!

Sponsors:
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Did you know we have a monthly supporter exclusive show? Last episode, y’all called to chat with host Sam Konnert about your favourite story.

If you want to hear that (or if you want to catch up on all the great episodes of Off The Record you’ve missed!) become a supporter at canadaland.com/join or call in on and we’ll give you a free month of Canadaland premium.

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

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Last week, Mark Carney announced his big A.I. strategy. Two billion dollars to support creating jobs, providing free A.I. literacy training, and protection against some of the potential harms and risks around A.I., especially with kids. Oh, and he wants to build a world-leading supercomputer.

Canada's leading A.I. company is Cohere. Cohere isn't like OpenAI or xAI or Anthropic or any of those other well-known large language model companies. They're not public facing. They don't do image generation or music generation, or tell you what recipe you can make with the leftovers in your fridge. They develop private models for specific companies trained in part on that company's private data. RBC, Bell, Salesforce, just to name a few. Their current valuation sits at $7 billion.

Cohere's co-founder is a 33 year-old indie rockstar named Nick Frosst. He joins host Stephen Marche to discuss Canada's A.I. sector, his band, Star Trek, and those students booing A.I. at convocations.

Host: Stephen Marche
Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Fact checking by Julian Abraham
Photo: Gabriel Hutchinson
Additional music by: Audio Network

Sponsors:

Fizz: Visit https://fizz.ca and activate a first plan using the referral code CAN25 to get 40$ off and 10GB of free data.

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today. Visit https://douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer.

Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://shopify.ca

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Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
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The Globe and Mail’s editorial board calls the initial reporting on Kamloops residential school graves a “failure of journalism.”

Five years later, debate continues over small errors in the language used to report on the preliminary findings of an investigation into unmarked graves.

Is the Globe’s decision to address these issues productive or will it fuel denial of the impact of residential schools on Indigenous communities?

Host: Jesse Brown
Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Kallan Lyons(Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)
Guest: Harrison Lowman

Further reading:
There is no reconciliation without truth - The Globe and Mail
#786 Digging For Doubt - CANADALAND [Podcast]
#1362 The Truth About Residential School Graves - CANADALAND [Podcast]
The search for graves at Tk’emlups, five years on - The Decibel [YouTube]
Kamloops residential school survivors recall students going missing, digging of graves in orchard - CBC [YouTube]
‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada - The New York Times
SAY WHAT?: Ranking the Top Ten most painful English speakers in Canadian politics - Western Standard
Tim Hortons to dial back use of Temporary Foreign Worker program, aims to hire 10,000 locally - The Globe and Mail
'Where’s the melt?' Tim Hortons customers complain of unmelted grilled cheese sandwiches - National Post

Sponsors:

Squarespace: Check out Squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free!

Taskrabbit: Get fifteen dollars off your first task RIGHT NOW with promo code CANADALAND at Taskrabbit.ca or with the Taskrabbit app.


If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
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As journalists, our work brings us to stories that fall into one large category: the public interest. If something is happening in your community that people need to know about, it’s our job to tell it.

But of course, there are many other interesting stories that we would probably never publish. So we wanted to hear your stories, the ones that might not be fit for print, but have a good hook, a good twist — something memorable.

And you came out swingin’. From dog bartenders to student teacher relationships that allegedly became a blockbuster film starring Judy Dench and Cate Blanchett. Oh, and the COVID police. All that and more.

Host: Sam Konnert
Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Tony Wang (Executive Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Publisher)
Photo: Digitally Edited by Tristan Capacchione, using material from Boko Shots and ELEVATE
Additional music by Audio Network

To learn more about all of our live events, including the upcoming show in Halifax, go to https://canadaland.com/live

This show is available exclusively to Canadaland supporters. To become one, go to https://canadaland.com/join/. You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.