It’s a bit misleading to say that artificial intelligence will shape the future since it’s already shaping the present. Today, we’re considering some of the ways AI is rapidly entrenching itself in our lives, for good or ill. Either way, it’s too late to stop it! More on that below.
IN THE NEWS
- Housing developers say the federal government’s new mortgage policies will do little to kick-start demand for new homes.
- Payment processor Stripe Inc. says it won’t reduce merchant fees on its standard plans despite Ottawa’s recent deals with Visa and Mastercard that sought to lower transaction costs.
- The Toronto office of private mortgage lender Romspen Investment Corp. was searched Tuesday by Revenu Québec as part of an investigation tied to the insolvency of one of Romspen’s borrowers.
- Inflation and higher interest rates have eroded Canadians’ purchasing power since 2022, particularly for lower-income households.
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton are awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, which was announced at a press conference by Hans Ellegren (centre), Secretary General at the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden on Oct. 8, 2024.Christine Olsson/TT/Reuters
IN FOCUS
A three-course meal of AI
The pace of AI news is so relentless these days, it can be difficult to even get a lay of the land. So, let’s take a closer look at three stories that speak to the current state of AI and how this megatrend is unfolding.
1. The godfather
Nobody embodies the good and bad of AI more than Geoffrey Hinton, the University of Toronto computer scientist known as the “godfather of AI.” On Tuesday, Hinton became Canada’s newest Nobel laureate when he was announced as the co-winner of the physics prize for his pioneering work on neural networks, which are algorithms that mimic the human brain’s ability to learn. The awarding of the Nobel itself might be considered an acknowledgment of AI’s potential benefits to humankind. “I want to emphasize that AI is going to do tremendous good,” Hinton told The Globe’s science reporter Ivan Semeniuk, after learning of his Nobel win. “In areas like health care, it’s going to be amazing. That’s why its development is never going to be stopped. The real question is, can we keep it safe?”
One of the many fascinating things about Hinton is how vocal he is about the dangers of the technology he helped conceive. He speaks of the threat to people’s livelihoods, the use of AI in warfare, and the potential for machine sentience. As the technology evolves, the enormous rewards and existential risks will increasingly come into view. They are two sides of the same coin.
2. The agents
Even as the world is still familiarizing itself with the applications of chatbots like ChatGPT, the next big thing is already upon us. AI agents take the chatbot model a step further, by actually performing tasks on their own, rather than simply telling you how to do them, Joe Castaldo writes. They could book flights, for example. Or revise documents. Imagine working alongside “AI colleagues.” It’s not far off.
The problem is, generative AI has a habit of glitching out now and then. It’s difficult to refine these models to a high level of reliability. So, it’s not hard to envision unpleasant scenarios if agents are given too much autonomy. The lesson here is that new AI applications are going to continue to arise, well before the kinks have been worked out.
3. The subjects
Uber drivers in Ontario are now going to have their wages determined by an algorithm, rather than by an established compensation structure, Vanmala Subramaniam writes. The company said the new model will calculate ride prices based on things like time of day and day of the week, demand and supply, the efficiency of the route a driver chooses to take and historical data from similar routes. Critics say the move exploits gig workers, who can no longer count on predictable earnings for a certain amount of work. There is even a legal argument being made that algorithmic wages are discriminatory.
People are already seeing AI creep into their professional lives in ways that may not benefit them. In many ways, the technology is moving faster than our attempts to regulate it.
CHARTED
Easy come, easy go. Chinese-exposed stocks have become the talk of the investing world over the past two weeks, first for their explosive ascent, and now for their sudden reversion. The Hong Kong market, for example, gained an impressive 27 per cent in a matter of days after China’s central bank unveiled a stimulus blitz designed to revive the country’s economy. But sentiment soured when the government declined to follow suit on the fiscal side of things. The offshore stock index then had its worst trading day since the global financial crisis with a decline of nearly 10 per cent.
With the market for Chinese-exposed stocks highly speculative, it’s best to play it safe and shovel all your money into crypto.
MORNING MARKETS
China’s runaway stocks rally stuttered as investors tempered their expectations for a robust economic recovery, keeping pressure on shares globally. Wall Street futures were in negative territory as investors looked to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting for insight into the interest-rate path. TSX futures followed cautious sentiment lower.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.22 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.26 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.25 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.26 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.87 per cent higher, buoyed by a rise in Seven & i shares on reports that Canada’s Couche-Tard had sweetened its takeover bid for the 7-Eleven parent company. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.38 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.12 U.S. cents.