Science & Technology

National

AI minister says solutions exist after Anthropic researcher quits over safety fears

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 4:08 PM CDT

OTTAWA - The federal artificial intelligence minister said the government is closely following the situation at Anthropic after a researcher who resigned from the company Tuesday said people in the industry fear AI could "kill us all."

Evan Solomon also told reporters Wednesday such warnings aren’t new and that there are both regulatory and technical solutions to the dangers posed by AI.

He pointed to the Liberal government's efforts to introduce privacy legislation. "We're establishing a new regulator that will have the power to hold these big companies to account," he said.

Solomon also said the government is investing in AI safety and noted ongoing work by Canadian AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio on safe AI. Solomon added the government is also working with other countries on ways to protect citizens.

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Business

A worker operates a forklift in front of steel coils at the manufacturing plant of Ideal Roofing in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Tariff price hikes may take time to hit shelves as retailers work through inventory

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Tariff price hikes may take time to hit shelves as retailers work through inventory

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: 11:40 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Canada's counter-tariffs on U.S. goods have spurred a fresh flood of retaliatory measures from the White House, but retail experts say there will likely be a lag before shoppers see price increases on store shelves.

Although higher prices are expected on a range of products imported from the United States, Matt Poirier with the Retail Council of Canada says it will take time for stores to work through existing inventory and begin stocking newly tariffed goods.

"There's an inventory that's just been juiced up, so it's going to take time for that inventory at those prices to go through," said Poirier, the industry group's vice-president of federal government relations. "Once that inventory is sold or expired, that's when Canadians could start to see prices increase."

Items with a shorter shelf life and other fast-selling products will likely see prices rise first, followed by durable goods with slower turnover like ovens and washing machines, he added.

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Updated: 11:40 AM CDT

Local

Founder and CEO of Children First Canada Sara Austin holds up an hourglass as she speaks during a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, April 27, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Online harms now top threat to Canadian children, new report says

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Online harms now top threat to Canadian children, new report says

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 8:57 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Online harms now constitute the top threat facing children in Canada, ahead of bullying, poverty and child abuse, Children First Canada said Tuesday in a new report.

It is the first time online harms have been in the top 10 list of threats, the report said.

"We've seen how now it's permeating the lives of every kid in Canada, from birth all the way through adolescence. This is no longer a conversation just about teens on social media," said Sara Austin, CEO of Children First Canada.

"In the past year alone, we've seen particularly the rise of AI-amplified harms," she added.

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Updated: 8:57 AM CDT

Business

Director Alex Gibney poses for photographers at the photo call for the documentary film 'Musk' during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Ashley St. Clair and Alex Gibney on AI and the dangers of Elon Musk

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Ashley St. Clair and Alex Gibney on AI and the dangers of Elon Musk

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:16 PM CDT

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A new documentary about Elon Musk uses a CGI avatar and artificial intelligence voice syncing to simulate an interview with the SpaceX and Tesla CEO using things he’s really said in interviews.

The choice, filmmaker Alex Gibney said Tuesday in Venice before the film's world premiere, was intentionally ironic. It both references Musk’s proposition that we’re all living in a simulation and pokes at his somewhat paradoxical and shifting views of the technology. Gibney said it is to convey the “reality of what he’s done and unreality of his narrative.”

The filmmakers consulted lawyers before going too far down the road and got the sign-off to use the Musk avatar.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker was joined at the Venice Film Festival by Ashley St. Clair, once a conservative influencer, who shares a child with Musk and who appears in the film. She talks about their relationship, his character and the nondisclosure agreement she was asked, and refused, to sign to guarantee paternity support.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:16 PM CDT

Business

FILE - Taylor Swift performs at the Paris Le Defense Arena as a part of her Eras Tour concert in Paris, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

One Tech Tip: How to avoid Celine Dion ticket scams as she makes her grand concert comeback

John Leicester, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

One Tech Tip: How to avoid Celine Dion ticket scams as she makes her grand concert comeback

John Leicester, The Associated Press 5 minute read Sunday, Sep. 6, 2026

PARIS (AP) — Based on their experience of hosting Taylor Swift, the management team at the Paris venue for Celine Dion 's grand concert comeback is bracing to deliver devastating news to hundreds of her fans: ‘Sorry, you appear to have been scammed, your tickets are fake.’

The Grammy-winning star's long-awaited return to the concert stage after years away from touring has unleashed massive pent-up demand for tickets. It's a perfect storm for scammers who have wormed their way into fans' online communities and set up fraudulent ticketing websites to manipulate and rob fans of both their money and hopes of being able to say, “I was there.”

“Where there is massive demand and widespread excitement, fraudsters see a golden opportunity,” says Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm that works with the international police agency Interpol and others.

The first of the 26 shows is Saturday.

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Sunday, Sep. 6, 2026

National

A lawyer runs up the steps of the Quebec Court of Appeal in Montreal on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Quebec courts say generative AI cannot replace judges’ reasoning

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Quebec courts say generative AI cannot replace judges’ reasoning

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 5, 2026

MONTREAL - Quebec's courts have issued new guidelines restricting judges' use of generative artificial intelligence, stressing that judging must remain a fundamentally human responsibility.

The guidelines, jointly adopted by the Quebec Court of Appeal, Superior Court, Court of Quebec and the province's municipal courts, say generative AI can be used for certain supporting tasks but cannot replace judicial reasoning, the assessment of evidence or deliberation.

Judging, they say, must remain the exclusive responsibility of judges.

"Generative AI, however sophisticated, possesses neither judgment nor conscience and is not subject to any form of accountability," states the 10-page document. "It cannot understand the human, social and legal context specific to each case."

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Saturday, Sep. 5, 2026

National

Viesturs Silenieks conducts a drone training session for businesspeople at the Drone House in Riga, Latvia, on August 20, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stéphane Blais

Latvian citizens training with drones amid tensions with Russia

Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Latvian citizens training with drones amid tensions with Russia

Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 5, 2026

RIGA - On a Thursday morning in August, about 20 executives from Latvia's largest companies gathered in a former plywood factory.

The business leaders were not there to discuss market opportunities of market growth. Instead, they learned how to fly drones and familiarize themselves with the latest technology redefining modern warfare.

The old factory, in Latvia's capital city of Riga, is now known as the Drone House.

It provides a glimpse into local efforts by citizens organizing to strengthen their defences against growing threats from Russia in the context of a NATO mission that is led by Canada.

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Saturday, Sep. 5, 2026

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Business

Assorted remote controls are displayed in Phoenix, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Ode to the remote control, that tiny box that lets you channel your desires without ever getting up

David Bauder, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Ode to the remote control, that tiny box that lets you channel your desires without ever getting up

David Bauder, The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — If the TV remote hadn’t been invented, channel surfers and couch potatoes would have to argue about something else. Come to think of it, those surfers and potatoes might not even exist.

It may be difficult for anyone under 40 to understand, but there was a time when changing a channel meant getting up, walking over to the “television set” and turning a “dial.”

Scientists at Zenith Electronics recognized a problem that needed to be solved fairly quickly. The first TV remote, called “Lazy Bone,” was put on the market in 1950. It wasn’t wireless. People tripped.

The first wireless remote, the “Flash-Matic,” five years later, looked disturbingly like a gun and used light signals. The TV wasn’t discriminating, and on sunny days false signals could cause spontaneous channel changes. The next year, Zenith’s “Space Command” was introduced using sound waves. On those early models, the press of a button produced a clicking noise – hence the term “clicker."

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Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Lifestyles

Two Miracinonyx hunt in this artistic rendering. A new study says the cheetah-like species which roamed the Yukon 30,000 years ago developed a unique fish diet to survive.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Julius Csotonyi (Mandatory Credit)

Prehistoric Yukon ‘cheetahs’ were fish eaters, not really cheetahs at all: study

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Prehistoric Yukon ‘cheetahs’ were fish eaters, not really cheetahs at all: study

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Slender, agile cheetahs that roamed the Yukon 30,000 years ago were not technically cheetahs at all, but relatives of the puma that adapted to mostly eat fish instead of antelopes in a harsh northern climate, new research shows.

A study published in the journal Current Biology analyzed fossils found in the Yukon and Wyoming in the United States belonging to Miracinonyx trumani, also known as the "American cheetah."

With their gracefully slim bodies and long legs, the now-extinct cats appeared to resemble African cheetahs.

But the researchers found the cats were actually closer relatives of the puma, having diverged from the puma lineage around 2.6 million years ago as growing grasslands and cooling temperatures drove diversification in many North American mammals.

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Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Entertainment

A voter enters an advance voting location in the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek in Hamilton, on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, one of three byelections in Ontario. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

In the news today: Ontario byelections, storm cleanup, AI policies, remembering 9/11

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

In the news today: Ontario byelections, storm cleanup, AI policies, remembering 9/11

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Progressive Conservatives, NDP hold on to their seats in Ontario byelections

It's status quo in the Ontario legislature after the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP held onto their respective seats in three provincial byelections on Thursday.

Progressive Conservative Jeff Beattie won the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, while his fellow party member Susan Lahey took the riding of York—Simcoe.

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Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Entertainment

Educators and technology experts say the rapid pace that artificial intelligence is developing and the federal government's aim to make the technology available for all Canadians requires the creation of a framework so grade-level students don't fall behind. People in opposition to AI data centres demonstrate outside city hall in Hamilton, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

‘Wild West’: Teachers, experts call for unified policies to address AI in classrooms

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

‘Wild West’: Teachers, experts call for unified policies to address AI in classrooms

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Teachers and technology experts say the fast pace of artificial intelligence development combined with Ottawa's aim to make the technology available for all Canadians needs a consistent framework so students don't fall behind.

Educators are grappling with how best to incorporate AI in their classrooms while fostering critical thinking and intellectual honesty.

It's a challenge that has yielded mixed results.

Some schools have embraced digital-forward education, and others are struggling to keep up.

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Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Business

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II crew members, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

White House website debuts 5 retro arcade video games that promote Trump’s agenda

Lou Kesten, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

White House website debuts 5 retro arcade video games that promote Trump’s agenda

Lou Kesten, The Associated Press 2 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House website on Thursday unveiled Arcade, a collection of five low-resolution video games that promote different aspects of President Donald Trump's agenda.

“Build the Wall” is a “Tetris” knockoff that transforms the classic game into an effort to “Protect the border from the coming horde." In “Rio Run,” which resembles the mobile favorite “Snake,” an icon resembling Trump runs around gathering potential border crossers.

In “Supply Line,” which looks like a condensed version of the arcade game “Tapper,” food moves along an assembly line and you must reject items that don't meet “Make America Healthy Again” standards.

Two of the games take place over the skies of the nation's capital. In “Flappy Bill,” an eagle carries a bill across the National Mall. In “Trump Savings Tycoon,” your goal is to collect money flying through the air to “Fill your kids' Trump Accounts,” the administration savings plan that offers $1,000 to every child born during Trump's term.

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Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

National

B.C. Premier David Eby tours a classroom at the new Stride Avenue Community School built to replace the former school that opened on the site in 1929, in Burnaby, B.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Eby blames OpenAI for new Tumbler Ridge lawsuits, says it walked away from mediation

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Eby blames OpenAI for new Tumbler Ridge lawsuits, says it walked away from mediation

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

PRINCE GEORGE - British Columbia Premier David Eby says new lawsuits against OpenAI from witnesses to the deadly Tumbler Ridge mass shooting are a result of the tech firm walking away from a mediation process, calling it inexcusable and disgraceful.

Eby, who was speaking at an unrelated event in Prince George, B.C., on Thursday says the plaintiffs in 30 new lawsuits that were announced this week have the provincial government's full support and the province intends to join the litigation, so long as it doesn't interfere with the families' ability to access justice.

He says the U.S. artificial intelligence firm's "negligence" in not reporting to police the troubling online behaviour of the shooter who killed eight victims, six of them at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, created a disaster "the likes of which we haven't seen in British Columbia."

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

Business

This image released by LAIKA Studios shows characters, from left, Prue McKeel, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Mac, voiced by Arthur Knight, and Mr. McKeel, voiced by Jake Johnson, in a scene from the film

Fall Movie Preview: In an AI world, Laika makes handmade wonders – and ‘Wildwood’

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Fall Movie Preview: In an AI world, Laika makes handmade wonders – and ‘Wildwood’

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Travis Knight, the chief executive of the stop-motion animation studio Laika, wasn’t prepared for the response to the teaser for his new film, “Wildwood.”

Almost immediately, it went viral. The early trailer rapidly gained more than 90 million views on YouTube, galvanized by people awed by the apparent scale and emotional depth of Laika’s most ambitious film yet. Sample comment: “AI is the future. Laika: Hold my meticulously handcrafted stop motion beer.”

“People that I worked with — hardened industry folks with wizened black husks of hearts — were sending me text messages: ‘Jesus Christ, your trailer just made me cry,’” Knight says, chuckling.

Why did Knight's strange, indie stop-motion animated movie resonate so strongly?

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Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

Entertainment

Chief Scientist of Quebec Jerome Dupras poses outside his offices in Montreal on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

From folk rock to fundamental research: Dupras leads Quebec science

Charlotte Glorieux, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

From folk rock to fundamental research: Dupras leads Quebec science

Charlotte Glorieux, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

MONTREAL - Jérôme Dupras spent much of his twenties on the road, playing bass guitar across Quebec and beyond.

In 1997, he joined a band with friends. That summer, the folk rock group anonymously released 500 cassettes of its first album. Over the next few years, it would become Les Cowboys Fringants, one of Quebec’s most popular musical acts.

Their songs tell stories about Quebec and its people, mixing humour and nostalgia with a critical look at society.

“(Touring) made me love music, but also really love Quebec, and want to talk about it elsewhere in the world,” Dupras said in an interview.

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Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

An Alberta Sheriffs peace officer won't face charges for using artificial intelligence to make intimate images of women, including his coworkers. The shoulder patch of an Alberta Sheriff officer is pictured in Calgary, Alta., Friday, July 4, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

No charges for Alberta sheriff found with intimate AI images of co-workers on phone

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

No charges for Alberta sheriff found with intimate AI images of co-workers on phone

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 2, 2026

An Alberta Sheriffs peace officer won't be charged criminally for using artificial intelligence to create intimate images of women, including co-workers, without their consent.

“The (officers’) conduct is serious. It will have lasting impacts on his female co-workers and their ability to feel safe in the workplace,” Alberta’s police watchdog, ASIRT, said in a report issued Wednesday.

The report said the investigation began earlier this year after a family member found AI-generated photos of women on the officer’s phone, and the employer became involved.

The officer admitted to using an AI app to create the sexualized images of the women, the report said, adding he apparently used non-intimate photos posted to social media as source material.

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Wednesday, Sep. 2, 2026

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