AI regulators mount up

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order outlining his government’s first regulations on artificial intelligence systems. It includes requirements that the most advanced AI products be tested to ensure that they cannot be used to produce biological or nuclear weapons. It also orders companies to report to the government if there’s a risk that their systems could help countries or terrorists make weapons of mass destruction. In London, a couple of days later, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak championed a series of landmark AI agreements. Leaders from 28 nations—including China—signed the Bletchley Declaration, a joint statement acknowledging the technology's risks.

This appears to be a rare case of politicians listening to the experts. Back in the spring, when AI programs were being unleashed in every sector of society, two big Canadian AI innovators, often called “the Godfathers of AI”—Geoffrey Hinton in Toronto and Yoshua Bengio in Montreal—expressed deep concern about the destructive power of what they had helped create. Their anguished cries got the attention of decision makers.

In the current special issue of Maclean’s, which describes how AI will change every aspect of life in Canada, Bengio explains the dangers that AI poses and the urgency for regulation. “I have grown very concerned that this technology, like the atomic bomb,” he says, “will grant humanity powers that could destabilize the world.”

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

Connor Emeny was always up for a challenge. Soccer, Ping-Pong, chess club—no game went unplayed. He didn’t catch the long-distance running bug until his Grade 12 year at St. Michael’s College in Toronto. When a friend suggested they sign up for an upcoming Toronto Waterfront Marathon, he thought: Why not? Now, he’s training three hours a day to compete in an Ironman triathlon in Antarctica, just a few months away.

The new expansion of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton features floor-to-ceiling windows, a rounded entrance mirroring the curve of the Saint John River and more. The goal was to create a living room for the city—a warm and inviting space for art buffs and community members alike.

Winter has arrived. Give your body a little extra help by taking a probiotic.

REAL ESTATE

Just outside of Montreal, there’s an imposing 6,500-square-foot Georgian mansion in Châteauguay, Quebec, that looks like something out of the Gilded Age. Inside are rare, museum-quality antiques, and they're (almost) all for sale.

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