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Paris Marx
@parismarx.com

Governments are chasing AI investment, even as their publics turn against the technology and the data centers that power it. Canada’s Mark Carney has chosen a shameless approach: to cast the opposition as a lack of “literacy” as he sets out to (re)educate Canadians about the benefits of AI.

disconnect.blogAI opposition isn’t the product of a lack of “literacy”The many problems with Mark Carney’s AI strategy for Canadians

232 reposts557 likes

Brent Crude
@mrbrentcrude.bsky.social

That episode of TWSU was really informative. It's refreshing to hear a canadian perspective on all this. What baffles me is how come Carney's AI czar isn't an engineer or a computer scientist? What do TV hosts know about AI? I guess he's dumb enough for Carney to manipulate.

Skeery, ikr?╭ರ_ಠ
@greynotgrey.bsky.social

Alice was my daughter's girlfriend. Literacy? Alice used ChatGPT at work as a dev. Then turned to it in a dark time. If you sell the tech as a reliable tool, confidante & advisor, you have to accept responsibility for it driving people towards bad choices. Does Carney? globalnews.ca/news/1190074...

globalnews.ca‘My daughter is gone’: Mother alleges ChatGPT failed her family, files lawsuit | Globalnews.caIn her final days, both Alice Carrier and her girlfriend turned to the OpenAI chatbot, each seeking guidance and neither were urged to get help.
Peace Pangolin
@peace-pangolin.bsky.social

Carney is not AI-literate. Quite the opposite. He's fallen for the hype and shtick, lacking fundamental understanding of what it takes to make these systems work. For example, does he ever talk about the huge numbers of abused data workers who label training data? No? Uh huh.

Ace Bastone
@nintarii.bsky.social

He's 1000% correct on literacy though. People are mad about data centres because of Chat GPT and memecoins. The use of AI Agents is going to automate the transactional world in ways many don't grasp.

Ace Bastone
@nintarii.bsky.social

For example, in a world which automates driving within city limits to reduce congestion and emissions will need AI agents to do the task. Markets will rely on AI agents to facilitate trade and reduce arbitrage, increasing capital efficiency. Want to reduce forgery? tokenize the asset.

Ace Bastone
@nintarii.bsky.social

Canada can either let other nations build the infrastructure and use it as leverage to direct us or we can be sovereign. It's that simple. Like arguing we don't need to build asphalt roads because nobody wants cars and would rather keep their horse and buggy.

troyliss
@troyliss.bsky.social

People are mad about data centres because the developers are proposing to dramatically increase fossil fuel use while drawing a small city’s worth of water from already-stressed aquifers in the complete absence of environmental review. Wonder Valley would *double* Alberta’s industrial energy demand.

Ace Bastone
@nintarii.bsky.social

Sure, for now. Canada is moving towards electrification with more nuclear and hydro. Those are prime for data centres. Alternatively, the US is ditching green energy in exchange for expensive coal and oil. We should not be making our decisions on the actions of the Americans.

troyliss
@troyliss.bsky.social

Wonder Valley is in Alberta. The original pitch was to use geothermal and natural gas, but they’ve quietly ditched geothermal and are now planning to use gas-fired turbines to generate 9GW of power at a single location. This is Canadian data centre development.

Allistar
@allistar00.bsky.social

The public are the FIRST to know and show the market when a tech is useful. Terms like "AI Slop", "AI Bubble", "Tokenmaxxing" etc has already become part of the lexicon when referring to this product that can't measure ROI. Demanding that AI can't fail and can only be failed is not a strategy

El Topo 🍁
@eltopo71.com

Carney really knows very little about technology. He's a money man. If there's a "lack of literacy" about AI involved here, it's on his part. If we fall for his schmaltzy schtick of hockey metaphors and really think he's interested in the sovereignty of this country, we're no better than Americans.

Trevor 🇨🇦
@trevorsideas.bsky.social

Anecdotally I've found that those who frame AI criticism as a lack of literacy themselves lack understanding of the tech. They are blinded by their own awe they can only assume others must be ignorant if they don't share that awe. The govts AI policy reads like marketing awe and lacks seriousness.

Ace Bastone
@nintarii.bsky.social

This kind of shit is so funny to me. It's articles like this that poison the public on AI. AI and its associated technologies are beyond using them as a writing tool. Agentic AI is about creating the software that's going to automate our futures. The level of misinformation on this issue is awful.

A-A-Ron
@aroun.bsky.social

Not sure if you've heard, but the Quebec tax credit for tech R&D has been changed, and now AI usage is one of the criteria to qualify.

Paris Marx
@parismarx.com

Canadians’ skepticism is justified. Even as Canadian governments have sought to push chatbots on the public sector, they’ve been failing: giving incorrect tax information, making up parts of immigration applications, and recording incorrect medical information. disconnect.blog/ai-oppositio...