Hi, I’m Samantha Edwards, an editor at The Globe and Mail. Welcome back to Lately, The Globe’s new tech newsletter – and if you’re here for the first time, welcome! Every Friday morning, I break down the week’s biggest tech stories and how they intersect with – and even change – our world.
In this week’s issue:
🙏 Employees to AI companies: “Please don’t cause human extinction”
🗳️ On the presidential campaign trail, TikTok is the new battleground
🚀 Nvidia skyrockets to number two
😪 Can a smart ring fix my terrible sleeping patterns?
AI of the week: Employees fear human extinction and Anthropic is in Canada
OpenAI employees warn that stronger transparency is needed to avoid safety risks.DADO RUVIC/Reuters
A group of current and former employees at OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind published an open letter on Tuesday warning that AI companies do not have enough oversight to effectively avoid safety risks posed by the technology. The letter describes one of those risks as “the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction,” which, hmm, is not a great scenario. The letter, signed by 13 people, says the industry needs stronger transparency and called on AI companies to scrap nondisclosure agreements and offer more protections for whistleblowers.
In other AI news, Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI employees, launched in Canada on Wednesday. Its chatbot Claude 3 can now be used on web or iPhone app, and developers can use the API to integrate Anthropic’s AI models.. The company touts itself as a safer alternative to other chatbots and just last month, released what it called a major breakthrough in understanding “the black box” of large language models so we can learn how they actually work.
The TikTok dilemma in U.S. politics
U.S. politicians embrace TikTok, even as they're trying to ban it.The Globe and Mail
As the U.S. election ramps up, candidates can’t stay away from TikTok, at the same time as they’re trying to get it banned. President Joe Biden has made the social media platform a key part of his campaign, posting Donald Trump memes, snappy lines from speeches and references to his “Dark Brandon” alter-ego. Biden’s team even has staff working with influencers to help spread his message. Meanwhile, Trump officially joined TikTok this week, amassing nearly five million followers in his first 24 hours with a video shot at a UFC match.
Given U.S. politicians’ pledge to ban the app unless its Beijing-based owner, ByteDance, agrees to sell it, the candidates are in an ironic position. “As much as the national security risk of TikTok is legitimate and real, you still need to meet people where they are,” says marketing expert Mike Nellis. The Globe’s U.S. correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe unpacks how TikTok has become the critical public square even as it faces intense scrutiny.
Nvidia creeps up to number two
AI chip manufacturer Nvidia breached the US$3-trillion mark, overtaking Apple and becoming the world’s second-most valuable company (Microsoft still holds the top spot). Nvidia’s stock has surged 147 per cent so far this year as the big tech companies race to build out their AI capabilities. This week, Reuters also reported that Nvidia doubled down on one of Canada’s buzziest AI startups, Cohere, investing in the Toronto-based company’s first tranche of fundraising efforts, which raised US$450 million. But it wasn’t all good news for Nvidia this week: The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission struck a deal that allows them to move forward with anti-trust investigations into the dominant roles Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia have in the AI industry.
What we’re reading in The Globe:
MaRS slashes top ranks as government-funded innovation agency looks to reset mandate
Utilities are enjoying an AI tailwind. Can the sector shake off its dull reputation?
Soundbite
”Blaming inflation on greed is like blaming an airplane crash on gravity. Obviously gravity’s always there. We need to understand what it is that broke the engine of the plane,” says German economist Isabella Weber on the past tumultuous four years, as heard on this week’s episode of:Lately.
What else we’re reading:
The age of the drone police is here (Wired)
Artists fed up with Meta’s AI policies move to social app Cara (TechCrunch)
SpaceWar is back! Rebuilding the world’s first gaming computer (The Guardian)
Adult Money
Could a $400 smart ring fix my terrible sleeping patterns?Supplied
Oura Ring, $399
I’m a terrible sleeper. I never feel refreshed no matter how long I sleep. I’m always yawning. So a few months ago, I went for a sleep study, in which I spent the night in a stiff single bed with dozens of cords attached to my head, face, torso and legs as I was monitored through a CCTV-like camera. But in the end, the sleep doctor didn’t find anything wrong with me. “Maybe practise better sleep hygiene?” he said, as the purple half circles under my eyes darkened.
So, this is why I’m seriously considering buying a $400 smart ring. The Oura Ring will give you a daily sleep score, which is based on total sleep, heart rate variability and nighttime movement, as well as track your REM sleep and blood oxygen rate to detect any breathing disturbances. While it may not fix my sleep problem, it could help identify what’s causing it. (Most likely, my two cats are at least part of the issue, but let’s not talk about that.)
Culture radar
The CRTC tells streaming platforms to pay up
This week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that starting Sept. 1, any foreign streaming platform with revenues of more than $25-million inside this country – including Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+ – will have to contribute five per cent of their annual revenues to support Canadian music, TV, film and radio, as part of the passing of Bill C-11. Unsurprisingly, the companies are unhappy and are warning that consumers could end up paying higher subscription fees.
The Globe’s film critic Barry Hertz says that although some might scoff at the idea of forcing foreign companies to subsidize Canadian culture, due to our “unique proximity to Hollywood, we’re the only English-speaking market in the world that threatens to have our culture wiped out entirely by indifference.”