Hello, welcome to Lately, The Globe’s weekly tech newsletter. First off, some exciting news. I’m the new Online Culture reporter here at The Globe and Mail, a brand new beat where I will write about our digital landscapes and its effects on our relationships, identities, politics and much more. I’d love to hear from Lately readers about what you’d like me to cover.
In this week’s issue:
🏆 AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton’s Nobel Prize
🚗 Uber’s new pricing model in Ontario
😵💫 How Bay Street became addicted to LinkedIn
🌪️ Misinformation around Hurricane Milton
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Geoffrey Hinton, who warned of AI’s dangers, co-wins Nobel Prize subheading
Geoffrey Hinton at his home in Toronto.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
University of Toronto computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton co-won the Nobel Prize in physics, with John Hopfield, a physicist and professor emeritus at Princeton University, for his work that laid the foundation for the current revolution in artificial intelligence. Hinton helped invent computer algorithms known as neural networks, based on the way neurons connect and interact in our brains. His work is at the heart of buzzy applications such as ChatGPT, as well as image search and speech recognition. But Hinton now has a complicated relationship with AI. Last year he quit Google so he could speak freely about the dangers posed by AI, including its use in weapons of war. Another threat he fears it poses? That AI could eventually get smarter than humans and effectively take control. “What we care about is people and we’d like people to stay in charge,” Hinton told The Globe and Mail in the wake of his Nobel announcement.
FUTURE OF WORK
Uber drivers pay in Ontario now entirely decided by algorithms
As of this week, how much an Ontario Uber driver gets paid per ride is determined by an algorithm, a sharp change from the existing wage structure in the province and an example of AI’s creeping role in worker compensation. With upfront fares, drivers can see their expected earnings before accepting a trip, a fare that is decided by a complex algorithm that takes into account factors such as time of the day and the efficiency of the route a driver took on similar routes in the past. Uber says upfront fares bring a new level of transparency, but critics argue it removes the predictability of a driver’s pay because they can no longer estimate their daily earnings based on simply time and distance.
SOCIAL MEDIA
On LinkedIn, Bay Street suits now cosplay as influencers.The globe and mail/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
How Bay Street became addicted to LinkedIn – and how it got toxic
LinkedIn was once a place for networking and pleasantly sharing professional accomplishments. The discourse was mostly civil. Anyone chasing clout was building their personal brand on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. But since the pandemic, as my colleague Tim Kiladze reports, things have taken a turn. Engagement has skyrocketed, partially thanks to the exodus from Elon Musk’s X, and in Canada, LinkedIn’s pull is especially felt on Bay Street. Over lunch, executives, bankers and lawyers will tell you about how well their posts did, as if they’re influencers. And as LinkedIn users become more fuelled by achieving virality, it’s becoming another platform for clickbait, unhinged rants and accusations – the type of posts everyone wants to comment on and share.
MISINFORMATION
Misinformation about Hurricane Milton on social media
Screenshot of a video posted to TikTok falsely claiming to be of Hurricane Milton.TikTok
Misinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton have been rampant on social media, leading to confusion for potential evacuees and feeding into the most out-there conspiracy theroies. Posts on TikTok, Instagram and X have falsely claimed the weather in Florida was being manipulated, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency blocked Floridians from evacuating. On Wednesday evening, a number of videos began circulating falsely claiming to be of Hurricane Milton in Florida, though reverse image searches show the clips are from previous storms. Up against this flood of misinformation on social media, where an increasing amount of Americans get their news, meteorologists have struggled to disseminate accurate information about the hurricanes. It got so rampant that FEMA launched a new website to combat the rumours.
What else we’re reading this week:
Internet Archive breach exposes 31 million users (WIRED)
How Truth Social users are getting scammed out of thousands of dollars (Fast Company)
Wind resistance: meet the Albertans protesting renewables in their backyards (The Narwhal)
Soundbite
I learned this at Barstool: if you spend all your time listening to what everybody has to say about how you suck then you’re just going to just start realizing you suck. The reality is everybody sucks, so you might as well just make the most of what you have and who you are and what you’ve got and try to build something.
— Erika Ayers Badan, former CEO of Barstool Sports, author of Nobody Cares About Your Career, and CEO of Food52
Adult Money
MENTAL HEALTH
Thirty minutes with this bad boy in the mornings and I feel more alert.Supplied
Verilux HappyLight, $65
Last night in Toronto, the sun set around 6:45 p.m. In the mornings, it’s dark until well after 7 a.m. There’s already a nip in the air, a foreboding – if not predictable – sign of a long winter ahead. In preparation, I pulled out my LED therapy lamp, which was collecting dust on a far away shelf, and put it on my desk at home. I’m not naturally an early riser, so dragging myself to my desk can be a struggle. I use the light in the fall and winter, usually for around 30-minutes in the mornings. The bright, artificial light is jarring at first, but after a few days I get used to it and I swear it makes me feel more alert. Research backs me up: studies have shown bright light can improve symptoms of SAD (seasonal affective disorder), as well as improve mood and increase energy levels. This compact lamp from VeriLux is UV-free, delivers up to 10,000 lux and has three different colour temperature hues. The lamp also has a timer function, so you can make sure you don’t overdo it. Around 30 minutes is generally considered sufficient.
Culture radar
FILM
A new HBO documentary identifies Canadian developer Peter Todd as the secret founder of bitcoin.Supplied
Is bitcoin’s billionaire founder actually a Canadian cryptography consultant?
The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin who is believed to hold about US$6.9-billion worth of the cryptocurrency, has captivated online sleuths and journalists for years. Many have tried, and failed, to unmask Nakamoto. Now a new HBO documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery theorizes that the alias belongs to 39-year-old Peter Todd, a Canadian cryptography consultant who was an early bitcoin developer. The documentary provides evidence to back up its claim, including posts that show the bitcoin creator spelling “favour” with a u. But in an e-mail to The Globe’s tech reporter Joe Castaldo, Todd says he is not, in fact, Nakamoto.