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Updated 01/11/2016

6 DAYS AGO

Geoffrey Hinton vs. The End of the World

The story of how Geoffrey Hinton became “the godfather of AI” has reached mythic status in the tech world. While he was at the University of Toronto, Hinton pioneered the neural network research that would become the backbone of modern AI. (One of his students, Ilya Sutskever, went on to be one of OpenAI’s most influential scientific minds.) In 2013, Hinton left the academy and went to work for Google, eventually winning both a Turing Award and a Nobel Prize. I think it’s fair to say that artificial intelligence as we know it, may not exist without Geoffrey Hinton. But Hinton may be even more famous for what he did next. In 2023, he left Google and began a campaign to convince governments, corporations and citizens that his life’s work – this thing he helped build – might lead to our collective extinction. And that moment may be closer than we think, because Hinton believes AI may already be conscious. But even though his warnings are getting more dire by the day, the AI industry is only getting bigger, and most governments, including Canada’s, seem reluctant to get in the way. So I wanted to ask Hinton: If we keep going down this path, what will become of us? Mentioned: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case Against Superintelligent AI, by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares Agentic Misalignment: How LLMs could be insider threats, by Anthropic Machines Like Us is produced by Mitchell Stuart. Our theme song is by Chris Kelly. Video editing by Emily Graves. Our executive producer is James Milward. Special thanks to Angela Pacienza and the team at The Globe and Mail. Support for Machines Like Us is provided by CIFAR and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 days ago

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1h 9m
3 DAYS AGO

How a new pipeline could test Canadian unity

A new pipeline pitch is stirring up an old fight. On Oct. 1, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the province would be drawing up a proposal for a new oil pipeline to the B.C. coast by May. In the last week, B.C. Premier David Eby has voiced criticisms of the project and opposed Smith’s coinciding efforts to repeal laws affecting access to the coast. In recent days, the disagreement has escalated. Today, The Globe’s B.C. politics reporter, Justine Hunter, joins the show. She’ll share what we know about the pipeline Smith is proposing, why it’s stirring up familiar tensions between the provinces, and whether the project can survive Eby’s opposition. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

3 days ago

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24 min
5 DAYS AGO

Key takeaways from Carney’s second meeting with Trump

Five months after his first appearance in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Mark Carney made his second trip down to Washington. And while he said little during the 30-minute press conference, talks between the countries carried on throughout the day and into the night. Doug Saunders, The Globe’s international affairs columnist, assesses Carney’s second performance at the White House and explains why he thinks Carney might be stalling on making a trade deal. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

5 days ago

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25 min
6 DAYS AGO

How October 7 is still haunting the Jewish diaspora

On October 7, 2023, members of Hamas launched attacks in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 people hostage. Israel responded by launching a war in the Gaza Strip, with the aim of eliminating Hamas. Since then, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, and much of Gaza has been destroyed. Two years later, reverberations of that initial attack and the ongoing war continue. The ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has led to a global protest movement in support of Palestinians. At the same time, antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in the diaspora. In the years since October 7, dinner table conversations in Jewish families have increasingly centred on – do we still feel safe in our homes? And what responsibility do we feel for the destruction that is happening in another land? These are questions that have led to division – and reckoning – within Jewish communities. Globe columnist and author of October 7: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle Marsha Lederman joins Decibel producer Michal Stein for a conversation from a Canadian Jewish perspective in understanding what’s happened since October 7 and how it impacts them today. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 days ago

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33 min
25 JULY

Why the players were acquitted in the Hockey Canada trial

On Thursday, five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team were found not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room after a Hockey Canada gala. The men — Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote — were acquitted of all charges by Justice Maria Carroccia. The Hockey Canada case has captivated the country — raising complex questions about consent, hockey culture and even how sports organizations handle accusations of assault. Globe reporter Robyn Doolittle has been covering the story since it first became public in 2022. She was in the courtroom for the verdict and joins The Decibel from London, Ontario, to explain how the judge arrived at her conclusion. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

25 July

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28 min
09/05/2023

From cannabis boom to bust: Why Bruce Linton was fired from the company he created

Bruce Linton was the founder and co-CEO of Canopy Growth, the first publicly traded cannabis company in North America. When weed first became legal in Canada, Bruce was riding the high. Under his leadership, Canopy grew into a company valued at around $18-billion. Bruce, in many ways, became the face of the cannabis boom. But things ended badly between Bruce and the company he created. Cannabis sales failed to meet the hype and in 2019, he was fired by the board. So what led to one of the most public business failures in recent memory? Bruce talks about how he got fired, why the cannabis sector hasn’t delivered on its colossal promise and what’s next for him.

09/05/2023

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31 min
23 SEPT

AI is Upending Higher Education. Is That a Bad Thing?

Just two months after ChatGPT was launched in 2022, a survey found that 90 per cent of college students were already using it. I’d be shocked if that number wasn’t closer to 100 per cent by now. Students aren’t just using artificial intelligence to write their essays. They’re using it to generate ideas, conduct research, and summarize their readings. In other words: they’re using it to think for them. Or, as New York Magazine recently put it: “everyone is cheating their way through college.” University administrators seem paralyzed in the face of this. Some worry that if we ban tools like ChatGPT, we may leave students unprepared for a world where everyone is already using them. But others think that if we go all in on AI, we could end up with a generation capable of producing work – but not necessarily original thought. I’m honestly not sure which camp I fall into, so I wanted to talk to two people with very different perspectives on this. Conor Grennan is the Chief AI Architect at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he’s helping students and educators embrace AI. And Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at Stanford and Harvard, and the co-founder of the University of Austin. Lately, he’s been making the opposite argument: that if universities are to survive, they largely need to ban AI from the classroom. Whichever path we take, the consequences will be profound. Because this isn’t just about how we teach and how we learn – it’s about the future of how we think. Mentioned: AI’s great brain robbery – and how universities can fight back, by Niall Ferguson (The London Times) Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College, by James D. Walsh (New York Magazine) Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task, by Nataliya Kos’myna (MIT Media Lab) The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson How the Enlightenment Ends, by Henry A. Kissinger Machines Like Us is produced by Mitchell Stuart. Our theme song is by Chris Kelly. Host direction by Athena Karkanis. Video editing by Emily Graves. Our executive producer is James Milward. Special thanks to Angela Pacienza and the team at the Globe & Mail. Support for Machines Like Us is provided by CIFAR and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

23 Sept

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50 min
6 OCT

How Trump’s peace plan for Gaza could end the war

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza. He did so alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called it a “critical step”. Hamas has since responded, and agreed to parts of the plan — notably, the release of all remaining hostages and the relinquishing of its control over Gaza. Negotiations will begin in Egypt on Monday. The Globe’s European Bureau Chief, Eric Reguly, joins the show. He’s been reporting from Cairo and Jerusalem, and will explain the details of Trump’s peace plan, how it’s being received across the region, and whether it could mark the beginning of the end of this war. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 Oct

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26 min
10 HRS AGO

Machines Like Us: Geoffrey Hinton on AI’s future

Geoffrey Hinton, “the godfather of AI”, pioneered much of the network research that would become the backbone of modern AI. But it’s in the last several years that he has reached mainstream renown. Since 2023, Hinton has been on a campaign to convince governments, corporations and citizens that artificial intelligence – his life’s work – could be what spells the end of human civilization. Machines Like Us host Taylor Owen interviews Hinton on the advancements made in AI in recent years and asks: if we keep going down this path, what will become of us? Subscribe to The Globe and Mail’s ‘Machines Like Us’ podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

10 hrs ago

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1h 10m
4 DAYS AGO

How seriously is corporate Canada taking DEI these days?

Five years ago, hundreds of Canadian companies publicly pledged to address anti-Black racism. They signed the BlackNorth Initiative, which has since become the most high-profile DEI effort in corporate Canada. Many of the commitments came with a 2025 deadline. The Globe and Mail surveyed the signatories to find out how they’ve fared. Vanmala Subramaniam is the Future of Work reporter for The Globe. She explains the results that show that the enthusiasm employers once had for diversity projects has waned considerably. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

4 days ago

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23 min

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