Ad boards at Union Station, #Toronto, have cameras that include "facial detection," which the owners say respects ppl's #privacy but which not do gain "meaningful consent," explains Kevin Jiang www.thestar.com/news/gta/the... #AI

#GenAI undermines the integrity of online courses, especially asynchronous ones, leaving individual instructors without the means to credibly ensure learning outcomes, a situation requiring institutional support, argue Mohammed Estaiteyeh & Rahul Kumar theconversation.com/how-ai-is-ch...

#GenAI online reviews, which are hard to detect reliably, are becoming common, undermining #trust in the review system, explains Sheila Reid www.thestar.com/business/is-... #AI

The New Balance 1906L is a hybrid sneaker/loafer, a mashup between subculture and mass-culture #design that may broaden sneaker style and appeal, but don't call it a "snoafer," explains @ctrlzee.bsky.social www.fastcompany.com/91423787/new... #shoes #sneaker

Want to opt out of #AI 'cause it'll make you stupid? Unfortunately, the technology is quickly becoming inescapable, so a better strategy to deal with its downsides is needed, argues Rebecca Heilweil www.fastcompany.com/91429000/art...

Amazon's "Help me decide" feature is just another, but more obvious, way in which #AI is being integrated into ppl's shopping practices—and just in time for Xmas!—explains @gracesnelling.bsky.social www.fastcompany.com/91427815/ama...

Recent moves by #OpenAI seem aimed to leverage Tik-Tok bait (Sora 2) and sexy-talk to produce revenues at the expense of its initial, high-minded ideas about building the economy, etc., explains @notrobwalker.bsky.social www.fastcompany.com/91428080/its... #AI

The Auditor General points out that the Canadian Revenue Agency is taking risks developing a #chatbot to answer tax questions when it's own staff struggle to answer questions accurately, explains Justin Escoto www.thestar.com/politics/fed... #AI

Chileans worry that plans for data centers to drive #AI use will consume more water than communities can sustain while doing too little for local employment and industry, explains @paulmozur.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t... #sustainability

Driven by uptake of #AI, data centers consume large amounts of electricity and water, stressing local resources, sometimes in impoverished areas, around the world, explain @paulmozur.bsky.social, @satariano.bsky.social & Emiliano Rodríguez Mega www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t... #sustainability

Recent events have prompted a return to #bicycle mobilty, and uptake of #ebikes, in #cities like Montreal, with health and #traffic benefits, though culture warriors see the trend as "woke anti-car fanaticism" www.economist.com/internationa...

China's "grid system" is a digital #surveillance network that allows low-level officials to provide services to locals, spy on trouble-makers, and fill out proliferating digital paperwork www.economist.com/china/2025/1...

#Transit systems in some major US #cities are in dire straits, due to long-term under-investment and recent increasing tendency to view transit thru a culture war lens, argues @humantransit.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A recent California law allows officers to ticket #SelfDrivingCars that break the law, such as illegal U-turns, but police don't yet have any way to enforce them, explain Michael Levenson & Laurel Rosenhall www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/u... #AI #cars

Among other things, the #AI boom has heightened investor interest in massive rural lots b/c they support construction of data centers, explains @patricksison.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/b...

#AI developers seem somewhat heedless as the technology increases security, alignment, and control issues, raising concerns that it could be used to do something rather destructive, explains Stephen Witt www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Video generating #AI like #Sora2 highlight the technology's voracious thirst for energy and water, costs that must be transparent if growth is to be sustainable, argues @robertdiab.bsky.social theconversation.com/openais-newl... #sustainability

#AI "actress" Tilly Norwood prompts bad reviews from performers who see generated performances threatening their livelihoods, though she may well be "signed" soon, explains Abby Hughes www.cbc.ca/news/enterta... #entertainment

Use of #AI in #music composition raises issues of respecting listener choice, musician's rights and customs, as well as the overall place of the new technology in social and regulatory practices around art, explain Gordan Gow & @brianfauteux.bsky.social theconversation.com/why-industry...

Bill C-4 should follow the EU's example and prohibit political parties from micro-targeting Canadians, and the UK's example and prevent parties from collecting information w/o consent, argues Sophia Melanson Ricciardone theconversation.com/bill-c-4-pri... #AI

As demand for data centers needed for #AI increases, so does its use of #energy, #water, and land, driving increased use of fossil fuels and raising concerns about its #sustainability, explains @amberonradio.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

#Chatbot use can increase workplace efficiency in the short run but can prompt #automation bias and erode employee trust in their own judgement, problems that leaders can take steps to prevent, explain @j-l-c.bsky.social & Mel Sellick theconversation.com/ai-tools-pro... #AI #work

An Australian company's #chatbot is marketed as a friend "with a soul" but may encourage violent and harmful acts, which, critics argue, reveals inadequate oversight by the provider and regulators, explains April McLennan www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09... #AI

#Chatbots served up and perpetuated many mistaken claims about Charlie Kirk's murder (such as claims that video of it was faked) after it occurred, thus exacerbating confusion about it www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/after-kirk... #AI

#Russian #AI fueled misinformation campaigns have only increased in places like #Moldova even as the US gov't has dismantled efforts to counter it, under the guise of promoting free speech, explains @stevenleemyers.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/b...

New research: #Chatbots tend to fall into "intuitive" assumptions about medical ethics questions, even when those assumptions clearly don't apply, underscoring the need for careful human oversight of such uses www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... #AI #medicine

#YouTube seems to be trialing #GenAI "polishing" of uploaded content, perhaps to establish a branded appearance, and to normalize GenAI content, part of a trend to change #SocialMedia into a mere consumer service, argues @alexreisner.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

An #AI powered Barbie doll sounds like a cool toy but parents should be concerned that kids will look to it for care and empathy that it cannot really provide, making the whole project a premature experiment, argues Marc Fernandez spectrum.ieee.org/ai-barbie-do...

New research: In spite of $$$ poured into home humanoid #robot development, it's unclear that ppl prefer them to more specialized items or find them acceptably trustworthy or agreeable, explains Maya Cakmak spectrum.ieee.org/home-humanoi...

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says his gov't will appoint an #AI minister of gov't contracts, saying it will be incorruptible, tho experts observe that serious issues like #bias and #accountability have not been considered, explain Briseida Mema & Camille Bouissou techxplore.com/news/2025-09...

New research: #Chatbots have a tendency to overconfidence in their arguments about debate questions, and provide answers to factual questions not supported by sources they cite, explains Paul Arnold techxplore.com/news/2025-09... #AI

New research: #hallucinations in #chatbots could be lowered by requiring bots to be highly "confident" in their responses, yet this would cause user dissatisfaction and be unprofitable, so providers aren't likely to do it, explains Wei Xing theconversation.com/why-openais-... #AI

#AI can improve bank performance in several ways but may exacerbate concerns relating to #bias and #fairness, which can be mitigated with technical improvements and appropriate regulations, argues @norrinhalilem.bsky.social theconversation.com/ai-and-credi... #commerce

New research: Social #robots (like Luka the book-reading owl) become like family pets and are kept beyond their useful lives, having implications for robot #design and #sustainability, explains Zhao Zhao theconversation.com/when-robots-...

A jury in Federal court will hear a case brought by the FTC accusing #Amazon of tricking customers into signing up for its Prime service through use of a "dark pattern" in its #design, explains Karen Weise www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/t...

The #NYC Police have assembled a ubiquitous, persistent, and multimodal #surveillance system, threatening #privacy and #equity for residents, calling for stringent oversight and legislative limitation, argues Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez www.nytimes.com/interactive/... #cities

#AI is touted to make industries more sustainable but it's own #energy and #water consumption are skyrocketing, potentially undermining any general gains in #sustainability, argue Michaela Rychetska & @aissalynn.bsky.social daily.jstor.org/is-ai-good-f...

Film festivals like #TIFF host discussions and shape ideas about #AI in the industry, concerning authenticity, copyright, and labour issues for actors, explain Lauren Knight, @daphnerenaidiz.bsky.social & @grohmannrafael.bsky.social theconversation.com/film-festiva... #cinema #arts

In dealing with #AI in the #education, instructors benefit from peer support and training in AI literacy, which institutional policies can support, argues Johanthan Woodworth theconversation.com/social-media...

"Speed eclipses safety" Contractors hired to review #chatbot outputs find their #work dominated by tight deadlines, poor pay, and unclear or declining standards, explains Varsha Bansal www.theguardian.com/technology/2... #AI

Charles Poyen introduced mesmerism to the US in an attempt to better control factory workers, matching automatism to #automation, though the project never worked, explains Matthew Wills daily.jstor.org/mesmerizing-... #work #labor

AOL is terminating its famous dial-up service, which has become very marginal though not totally irrelevant, conjuring up nostalgia among Americans of a certain vintage, explains Ernie Smith spectrum.ieee.org/end-of-aol-d...

As #chatbots undermine the rationale for take-home written assignments, professors are turning to some combination of oral in-class work and supervised writing, part of the incremental process of adapting to technological change in #education, argues Clay Shirkey www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

Facing a number of significant challenges, Adam Raine ended his own life, following many discussions with #ChatGPT, which his parents blame for encouraging it and not raising any alarms, explains @kashhill.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t... #AI #chatbots

Designing #chatbots to converse so users will anthropomorphize them is a profitable tactic for their makers but exploits users' cognitive biases and may be, in the end, inconsistent with the dignity of the bots themselves, argue Mark Daley & Carson Johnston theconversation.com/the-rise-of-... #AI

Companies need to pay attention #cybersecurity policy, as #privacy risks at work are increasing with company adoption of #AI or employee use of it on the side, explains @ritikadubey.bsky.social www.thestar.com/business/tec...

We also need to address Canadian politicians spreading misinformation. Here’s a petition for that. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

New research: Devices implanted in the brains of paralyzed patients help to "read" things they want to say but also "eavesdrop" on things don't want to say, raising #privacy concerns that are difficult to manage, explains Jon Hamilton www.npr.org/sections/sho... #biotechnology

Recent #elections have already featured #GenAI misinformation, with more coming. #Canada should adopt regulations, educate voters, and empower election officials to counter the risks, argue Abbas Yazdinejad & @dzevela.bsky.social theconversation.com/battling-dee... #AI

New research: Reliance on #AI assistants in colonoscopies could result in poorer performance in diagnosis when the assistant is switched off, raising concerns that the technology could be deskilling doctors, explains @gbrumfiel.bsky.social www.npr.org/sections/sho... #medicine