A network of YouTube accounts is promoting U.S. annexation to Albertans, researchers say. It has 40M views Flagged as a "potential covert influence operation" in a new report, those behind the network are tough to trace.

If this network of #YouTube channels promoting #AI generated "slopaganda" is to be believed, Albertans can't wait to become the 51st state, though the material seems to originate outside of #Canada, explains @alexboyd.bsky.social

www.thestar.com/news/investi... #politics

Slanguage: Why AI’s stylistic negation — ‘it’s not X, it’s Y’ — is both annoying and doesn’t work Negation-based language is cognitively ineffective. And when amplified by AI-generated writing it distorts how people engage with ideas.

This isn't a one-off, it's a pattern! #AI generated text proliferates expressions like This-isn't-X, it's-Y beyond all necessity and simply obfuscates whatever point is being made, argues Joshua Gonzales

theconversation.com/slanguage-wh... #chatbots

People are dating chatbot 'companions,' and relationship experts have thoughts Amid a loneliness epidemic and dating crisis, people are turning to chatbots for connection without the friction.

Ppl fall for their #AI companions, but the emotional safety those provide could also keep users from developing the emotional resources fostered in relationships with other real but imperfect human beings, explains Sarah Laing

www.thestar.com/life/relatio...

ANALYSIS: How can the Tories be anti-scalper and pro-surveillance pricing? | TVO Today What makes a Taylor Swift ticket more important than groceries?

Premier Ford of #Ontario is against a surveillance-pricing ban on groceries, though the gov't has banned ticket scalping, leaving consumers to scratch their heads on the gov't's affordability policy, explains @jmmcgrath.bsky.social

www.tvo.org/article/anal... #food

Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media

Low-quality, high-volume #AI generated political commentary is proliferating, especially in conservative #socialmedia in the US, no doubt in time for midterm elections, though its unclear who is producing it, explains Tiffany Hsu

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/b... #politics

Ontario is now sending used plastic containers to be incinerated — and environmentalists are concerned The provincial government has recently allowed 15 per cent of “nonrecyclable” plastic waste to be incinerated and still count toward Blue Box recycling targets.

#Ontario allows some #plastic waste to be incinerated, at a plant in Buffalo, rather than recycled, creating confusion about the gov't's #recycling policy, explains Patty Winsa

www.thestar.com/business/is-... #sustainability

The Deepfake Nudes Crisis in Schools Is Much Worse Than You Thought An analysis by WIRED and Indicator found nearly 90 schools and 600 students around the world impacted by AI-generated deepfake nude images—and the problem shows no signs of going away.

#Deepfake nudes have become a crisis especially in schools where (usually) girls are harassed with them, and where supports and consequences remain uncertain, explains @mattburgess1.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/deepfa... #AI

A New Kind of Hybrid Car Is About to Hit America’s Streets The car industry says it has an answer for drivers wary of going electric.

The "extended-range electric vehicle" is an #EV with a gas-powered charger, which may assuage Americans' range anxiety but alleviates few of the issues with either full #EV or conventional vehicles, argues @andrewmoseman.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2... #design #cars

Is Schoolwork Optional Now? Education is on the verge of becoming fully automated.

Students can now have agentic #AI complete entire online courses for them, and instructors can get #AI to do all their marking, raising the specter that humans will be shut out of #education altogether, explains Lila Shroff

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Facial Recognition Errors Affect Millions Globally How does facial recognition handle the pressure of real-world applications?

#FacialRecognition is now being employed at such a scale that even seemingly small error rates have big implications for #fairness, particularly in law enforcement, explains @lucaslaursen.bsky.social

spectrum.ieee.org/facial-recog... #AI

ENIAC’s 80th Anniversary: A Legacy of Innovation 80 years ago, ENIAC changed the world. How did this massive machine pave the way for today's digital age?

The ENIAC, the first general-puropse electronic computer, was first turned on 80 years ago, and helped set off the age of digital computing, explains San Murugesan

spectrum.ieee.org/eniac-80-iee...

Providers design #chabots to be sycophantic, which prompts users to over-trust them and risking harm to their well-being down the line, a repetition of under-regulation of #SocialMedia previously, argues @schneier.com

www.schneier.com/blog/archive... #AI #trust

Japan's Team Mirai Uses Tech to Bolster Democracy, Not Undermine It Team Mirai illustrates the viability of a different way to do politics, write Nathan Sanders and Bruce Schneier.

Team Mirai is a new political party in Japan determined to use #AI to boost public engagement in #politics and involvement in policy setting, explain Nathan Sanders & @schneier.com

www.techpolicy.press/japans-team-... #democracy

She Came Out of the Bathroom Naked, Employee Says Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’...

Meta's #AI glasses record lots of private encounters and beam them away for review by labelers: “You think that if [people] knew about the extent of the data collection, no one would dare to use the glasses," explain Naipanoi Lepapa et al.

www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met... #privacy

Does ‘federated unlearning’ in AI improve data privacy, or create a new cybersecurity risk? As governments push for stronger data rights like the “right to be forgotten,” evidence suggests AI may not fully comply, raising new regulatory challenges.

"Federated unlearning" could help distributed #AI systems comply with #privacy laws but also opens up #cybersecurity backdoors that could undermine system integrity, explain Abbas Yazdinejad & @annfitzgerald.bsky.social

theconversation.com/does-federat...

King's study finds AI chose nuclear signalling in 95% of simulated crises | King's College London Artificial intelligence (AI) models used for a simulated war game escalated conflicts by threatening nuclear strikes in 95% of scenarios, according to new research from King’s College London.

New research: #Chatbots readily resort to nuclear threats in game scenarios, and mostly respond with escalation, although all-out nuclear attacks were rarely approved, a "sobering" result, explains @indescribable.bsky.social

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/artific... #AI #war #military

How we turned plastic waste into vinegar: A sunlight-powered breakthrough Instead of treating plastic purely as waste, new research shows that it can be transformed into something useful — acetic acid, a key component of vinegar and an important industrial chemical.

A bio-inspired process that turns waste #plastic into useful acetic acid could help reduce plastic #pollution in the environment, argues Yimin Wu

theconversation.com/how-we-turne... #sustainability

Truth, or misinformation? A statistician explains the challenge of assessing evidence The word misinformation is loaded, and overused. The difficulty of assessing evidence is partly to blame.

The term "misinformation" online should be reserved for materials that are very likely to be lies on the evidence, rather than just more likely than not, or the term loses its significance for practical purposes, argues Mu Zhu

theconversation.com/truth-or-mis... #AI #deepfakes #misinformation

All @uwaterloo.ca members are invited to our next Movie Night: Dark Waters—A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to pollutants from one of the world's largest corporations. Thursday at 6:30pm in DC 1304! @engsoc.bsky.social

In the video, the containers were about "shipping" dimensions but were at least dressed up a bit.

This High School Student Invented a Filter That Eliminates 96 Percent of Microplastics From Drinking Water Virginia teenager Mia Heller’s filtration system harnesses the power of ferrofluid, a magnetic oil that binds to microplastics in flowing water

High school student Mia Heller has invented an interesting device for filtering #microplastics from household drinking water, explains Ramsha Waseem

www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/t... #design

More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their A.I. Use.

#TokenMaxxing and token anxiety result as employers begin to rate coder productivity by how many #AI tokens a person uses, even regardless of output quality, explains @kevinroose.com

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/t... #unintendedconsequences

White House Unveils A.I. Policy Aimed at Blocking State Laws

A missive from the White House calls for states to forgo much #regulation of #AI, apart from some protections for children & energy costs, so the US can win the AI arms race, explains @nytceciliakang.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/u...

ANALYSIS: Can souped-up shipping containers solve food insecurity? | TVO Today Two former university classmates think so. They might be on to something.

Growcer is a Canadian system for using shipping-style containers to grow veggies locally in remote communities, supporting local nutrition and #FoodSecurity, explains @spaikin.bsky.social

www.tvo.org/article/anal... #food

A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth If SpaceX launches one million new satellites, it will increase atmospheric pollution and risk of falling debris. And we will see more satellites than stars.

#SpaceX 's proposal to launch 1m satellites overlooks their impact on the appearance of the night sky, effects of launches on the atmosphere, and de-orbit risks, and is being with far too much haste, argue Samantha Lawler, Aaron Boley & Hanno Rein

theconversation.com/a-million-ne... #progress

They’ve been terrorized by home invasions. Now these Toronto residents are considering ‘virtual gated communities’ Residents of Rosedale and Lawrence Park are uneasy as break-ins and car thefts are evolving into home invasions.

With car thefts escalating into home invasions and underwhelming police reponse, residents of Lawrence Park, #Toronto, are considering their own "virtual gated community," explains Raju Mudhar

www.thestar.com/news/gta/the... #AI #security

Experience the mesmerizing glide of the Rolls-Royce Spectre on Quebec's icy circuit The Spectre marks a major milestone in the history of Rolls-Royce; it is the brand’s first all-electric vehicle. I took it for a spin on an icy track

At $700k, Rolls Royce's first electric car, the Spectre, rides like a cloud and oozes luxury, showing the marque has succeeded in adapting the new tech to their brand, explains Gabriel Gélinas

www.thestar.com/life/autos/d... #cars #design #style

A.I. Agents: They’re Fun. They’re Useful. But Don’t Give Them the Credit Card.

Ppl use #AI agents to perform lots of personal assistant type tasks, with results that can be impressive or disconcerting, suggesting they cannot be wholly trusted just yet, explains @cademetz.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/t... #trust #design

A.I. Is Writing Fiction. Publishers Are Unprepared.

Withdrawal of the novel "Shy Girl" shows that the publishing industry lacks clarity in its #genAI policies and is unprepared to screen submissions effectively, explains Alexandra Alter

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b... #writing #AI

Horror Novel ‘Shy Girl’ Canceled Over Suspected A.I. Use

Publication of the novel "Shy Girl" has been discontinued over allegations that #genAI was heavily involved in its writing, a claim the author disputes, illustrating challenges publishers face with the authenticity of work, explains Alexandra Alter

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b... #AI #writing