Good morning. Ontario’s Uber drivers will now have their wages fully determined by an algorithm – more on that below, along with a top resignation in Alberta and the latest from The Globe on the ground in the Middle East. But first:
Today’s headlines
- As Hurricane Milton zeroes in on the Gulf Coast, Florida’s Governor says ‘time is running out’ for residents to flee
- Hezbollah targets Israeli troops on the Lebanese border with shells and rockets
- Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and his staff needed time to get ‘comfortable’ with a warrant targeting a Liberal powerbroker, the public inquiry hears
On call in front of Toronto's Union Station.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Transportation
Taken for a ride
Let’s begin with a hearty congratulations to AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, co-winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, whose research into neural networks helped launch the buzzy branch of machine learning modelled on the way our brains operate. And now let’s acknowledge that Hinton has an, um, complicated relationship with his life’s work. The University of Toronto computer scientist quit Google last year so he could speak freely about AI’s capacity to do massive harm, from spreading misinformation and upending the job market to posing an existential threat to humanity. “What we care about is people,” Hinton told The Globe after his win yesterday, “and we’d like people to stay in charge.”
That’s not exactly how it works over at Uber, which just announced a major change to the way its drivers in Ontario get paid. As of this week, Uber drivers will have their wages determined entirely by an algorithm, in a compensation switch that the company calls upfront pricing. My colleague Vanmala Subramaniam, The Globe’s future of work reporter, explained how earnings used to be calculated: “A driver would get paid a fairly predictable rate based on how many kilometres they drove, how much time they spent in the car, and deductions in taxes and service fees,” she told me. “After a trip, they’d get a receipt that broke down how they were paid.” Under this new model, the app dispenses with that breakdown altogether and simply shows drivers, upfront, their take-home pay for a ride. They choose whether to accept it.
Uber says that upfront pricing will “better balance the marketplace” and make sure there are enough drivers on the road to meet rider demand. But the experts Subramaniam spoke with insist it removes the predictability of drivers’ pay and could slash how much they earn. And as is so often the case when AI calls the shots, these opaque algorithms invite plenty of opportunities for discrimination to run wild.
Priced out
Uber passengers are already familiar with dynamic pricing – it’s why costs surge when demand for a ride is particularly high, such as after the subway breaks down or a hockey game lets out. But generally, drivers’ pay functioned much like a cab meter, tallied through a combination of time, distance and base fare, with bonuses for driving often or in busy periods. If a driver took someone from the airport to the financial district in the middle of rush hour, they’d know roughly how much they were going to make, and could structure their day accordingly.
Upfront pricing introduces opaqueness and variability into those earnings. “Now, drivers can make that same trip three times and get paid three different amounts – $6 or $10 or $12, they simply don’t know,” Subramaniam told me. “They’re really at the whim of the company and the algorithm in terms of their wage.”
Gig workers risk discrimination from algorithms.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
And a company like Uber – or Lyft, or DoorDash, or Amazon – collects a trove of data on the behaviour of the gig workers using its platform. That includes how long drivers are prepared to wait between rides (time they don’t get paid for), what sort of fares they’re willing to accept, and their daily earnings goal. Armed with this information, an algorithm can tailor wages to individual drivers. Maybe the app lowers the fare shown to someone who seems more inclined to take it. Maybe it shaves a few bucks off the rates offered to a driver aiming to earn $250 that day, making it likelier they’ll stay out on the road.
“Algorithmic management of wages ultimately keeps the worker working for the company as long as possible, for as little as possible,” University of California law professor Veena Dubal explained to The Globe. She even coined a term to describe this system of variable pay for identical work: algorithmic wage discrimination. “And the algorithm is always working on the latest available piece of data,” Subramaniam told me. “So it’s an ever-changing system that determines a driver’s final wage.”
A legislative fix?
Here’s where I note that Uber denies personalizing wages based on data collected. But it’s perhaps worth mentioning that on an earnings call earlier this year, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had this to say to investors: “What we can do better is actually targeting different trips to different drivers based on their preferences or based on behavioural patterns that they’re showing us.” And it’s definitely worth mentioning that upfront pricing has been shown to lower drivers’ wages. According to a Columbia Business School analysis, average pay per trip declined by roughly 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, shortly after Uber introduced upfront pricing across the U.S.
So what can we do about this? On July 1, 2025, the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act will take effect in Ontario, with a clause stating that digital platforms like Uber must be transparent with their pay calculations. The Act also mandates that gig workers are paid a minimum wage per assignment. “But what that assignment means, or how you guarantee transparency, or who’s going to enforce these regulations – none of that is clear yet,” Subramaniam said. “I’m not sure anyone knows how the legislation will work before it takes effect next summer.” Until then, if you happen to take an Uber in Ontario, I might humbly suggest tipping your driver especially well.
The Shot
Tadpoles on parade
Shane Gross called this shot "The Swarm of Life."Shane Gross/Supplied
To snag this picture of western toad tadpoles, Canadian photojournalist Shane Gross snorkelled below the lily pads of B.C.’s Cedar Lake, then stayed very still for several hours to avoid kicking up the algae that could cloud his shot. Gross was named one of the Wildlife Photographers of the Year for his efforts – see more amazing photos from the winners here.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
Abroad: The Globe’s Mark MacKinnon is in northern Israel, where residents of Kiryat Shmona watched anxiously as Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets. Meanwhile, Eric Reguly reports from Beirut, where any large space has been taken over by displaced Lebanese – more than a million people have been forced to flee Israel’s attacks.
At home: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s chief of staff, Marshall Smith – the man she described as “the spiritual leader for all of us in government” – is departing her office after two years on the job.
Zip it: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been banned from speaking in the House of Commons until he apologizes for some unparliamentary language lobbed at Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
Skip it: Real estate developers say Ottawa’s new mortgage policies will do little to change the anemic demand for newly built homes.