The Big Story Frequency Podcast Network

Using glue to stick cheese on a pizza. Drinking urine to pass kidney stones. The past few weeks have been filled with weird, hilarious and definitively wrong answers supplied by Google's new AI Overview. The criticism became so intense that Google has fixed many of the answers manually, but it's still determined to push forward incorporating AI into its responses. Why?

How did AI mess these simple questions up? What has Google lost as it moves forward with its plans? And ... does the company understand what its chief product is actually for, or how people use it?

GUEST: Max Read, author of Read Max on Substack

Last week, a bombshell report revealed multiple Canadian parliamentarians have, intentionally and unintentionally, worked with foreign agents to interfere in our politics. The revelation sparked furious debate around who these MPs are, what they've done to undermine Canada's interest and whether or not the "traitors"—as many called them—should be named.

Today, we'll bring you on a deep dive into the world of foreign interference, security clearance, intelligence gathering and how to protect Canada's interests while still keeping the public informed. It's not as simple as naming names.

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

The CRTC decided last week to levy a tax on the Canadian revenue made by the giant streaming services. This money will ostensibly go towards supporting Canadian creators and improving Canadian content...which is what exactly?

This is where Bill C-11 gets interesting, because streamers already spend a ton of money making content in Canada, or purchasing stories and IP created by Canadians. Much of that won't count, so what will? And who will end up paying for the tax on those services—American corporations or, as some experts have warned, all of us, with rising Netflix prices?

GUEST: Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa

This weekend saw four Israeli hostages rescued at the cost of at least 200 Palestinian lives. While the world debates the calculus of that manoeuvre, it is either way more lives lost in a conflict overflowing with them. When this began, very few experts could have imagined Israel's bloody response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks lasting eight months. But here we are, with ceasefire deals and hostage exchanges having failed every time they've seemed close.

Is there still a way to end the bloodshed? Will there be anything left of Gaza by the time there is?

GUEST: Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow, Middle East Institute; Director of the Middle East Institute's Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs

The 1930s was a disastrous time for Alberta, as crops failed and topsoil blew away in the wind. And while the province is not currently at that level today, all signs are pointing towards a period of prolonged drought in the province.

This is a problem even a month of rain can't fix. And every government in the province is having to dramatically rethink how they handle water when it becomes scarce. What does the future hold for Alberta's crops? And what are we doing now to avoid the worst-case scenarios?

GUEST: Tyler Dawson, Alberta correspondent, National Post

Traditionally, we think of a tip as an acknowledgement of a job well done, usually by someone who performs a service for us. It's become impolite not to tip, of course, but until recently the standards were still mostly understood. Then society began to go cashless...

Over the past few years, tipping has crept into far more transactions than it had previously. Now businesses don't need to rely on tradition, they can simply add a tip prompt to their transaction machines, and presto! Tip creep. This creates confusion, and often resentment, when being asked to tip for handing over some goods across a counter, or ringing up groceries. And it's not the workers' fault—but they're caught in the middle.

So where did tip creep come from? How much and when should you tip now, and what are the forces at work behind this dynamic?

GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper