Robert Diab

robertdiab.substack.comOpen-weight models and the future of AIWhy does everyone from Wall Street to the White House care so much about Kimi K3?

Why have we heard so much about Kimi K3 and open-weight models this week? What do they mean for the future of AI? robertdiab.substack.com/p/open-weigh...

29 July

Lead piece in the NYT: “Last year, the [data centres] consumed 64 gigawatts of electricity globally, roughly as much electricity as Germany consumes… By the end of 2030, that is expected to quadruple, eclipsing the power used by all countries in South America and Africa combined.

robertdiab.caWill more transparency about AI make you trust it more? | Robert DiabCanada launches a public consultation on AI transparency, signaling a future of more frequent notice and more disclosure about risks

28 July

Open-weight models are not open source. Much about them is never disclosed. Canada’s consultation on AI transparency will look at many issues, including how much model makers should have to disclose. robertdiab.ca/posts/ai-tra...

robertdiab.substack.comWill more transparency about AI make you trust it more?Canada launches a public consultation on AI transparency, signaling a future of more frequent notice and more disclosure about risks

27 July

Canada has launched a public consultation into AI transparency, with a discussion paper that looks at: -AI-generated content; -AI tools; -Information about the models; -AI incidents; and -AI agents. Will more disclosure make AI seem more trustworthy? robertdiab.substack.com/p/will-more-...

ised-isde.canada.caEnhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparencyDiscussion Document

25 July

Your Saturday morning read... A good overview of what a gov policy on AI transparency might entail. ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en...

nytimes.comHow Google’s A.I. Search Is Imperiling the Open Web (Gift Article)As Google incorporates more artificial intelligence into search, people are spending more time on Google. Some website operators are crying foul.

21 July

Google’s AI summaries are diverting traffic, but with recent changes, we may not be heading to ‘Google Zero.’ www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/t...

Robert Diab reposted

Blayne Haggart

@bhaggart.bsky.social

21 July

Speaking of the consequences of acting without thinking or planning… Canada’s AI strategy is Policy FOMO, governance by Underpants Gnomes. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

theglobeandmail.comOpinion: Canada’s new AI data centres could be obsolete before they openEnvironmental concerns are at the forefront, but the growth of small-language models that run on laptops should also give governments pause

robertdiab.substack.comWho controls how we get the news?A global survey shows power continuing to move from publishers to platforms, with AI playing a growing role

21 July

Many insights in Reuter's Digital News Report 2026, including its main finding: platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are — for the first time — more popular sources of news, on a global average, than TV and legacy news venues. More in today's post: robertdiab.substack.com/p/who-contro...

Robert Diab reposted

Michael Plaxton

@michaelplaxton.bsky.social

18 July

New Substack post, riffing off a recent blog post by @robertdiab.bsky.social. On what it means to "teach AI" to law students. Comments welcome. open.substack.com/pub/michaelp...

open.substack.comWhat does it mean to 'teach AI' to law students?Law schools better start figuring it out.

compactmag.comThe AI Apocalypse Is Already HereAmericans do not care for artificial intelligence. Recent polling shows that their attitudes mostly range from ambivalence to horror.

16 July

Gregory Conti in Compact Magazine: "the most vocal skeptics have not fully reckoned with how anthropomorphic AI... is currently in the process of unsettling human psychology and the social fabric." www.compactmag.com/article/the-...

slaw.caSlawCanada's online legal magazine

14 July

Can you just ignore AI and still be a competent lawyer? (or law prof?) Or will all lawyers soon need to use AI in some capacity to be competent? I take this up at slaw.ca, making the case that soon, most of us will need to be on board with AI. lnkd.in/gtpYyhm8

8 July

Another insight from The Atlantic piece on reading — the few of us still reading form a small strong subculture. But should we be consoled by this? www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

theatlantic.comThe End of Reading Is HereOptimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.

8 July

An exceptional contribution to the Gutenberg Elegy tradition www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

8 July

Many unsettling stats, including this one: “A study analyzing 236,000 responses to the American Time Use Survey found that the the proportion of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2023”

Bill C-34 promises effective age verification for social media, and effective AI reporting to police, without compromising privacy. But it can't be done.

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Bill C-34 will also require AI providers to report risky chats to the RCMP. The EU has a near-identical rule. It's proven hard to apply and Germany's stricter version was stopped by a court before it took effect.

robertdiab.substack.comWhy Bill C-34's safety measures can't be effective without harming privacyAge verification and police reporting for AI both carry the same trade-off

New post on what these obligations will actually require, and what they've cost users elsewhere. robertdiab.substack.com/p/why-bill-c...

Bill C-34 promises effective age verification for social media, and effective AI reporting to police, without compromising privacy. But it can't be done.

To catch every under-16 user, a platform has to check every user. The UK and Australia show what that means in practice: facial recognition, ID uploads, and breaches.

cfe.torontomu.caWhile We Watch the U.S., Canada’s Democracy Is Quietly Eroding | Centre for Free ExpressionWith the precipitous decline of democracy in the United States, it is all too easy to ignore that Canada’s democracy is in decline as well. We ignore the signs at our peril.

20 June

Thoughtful piece on how the many recent bills undermining democratic rights in Canada are part of a larger problem of power concentration in the PMO…

James L Turk@jameslturk.bsky.social

The V-Dem Institute report on global democracy shows Canada's democratic decline, accelerated by the firehose of government bills undermining basic civil liberties, human rights and democratic practices-- C-5, C-4, C-15, C-12, C-14, C-9, and C-22. cfe.torontomu.ca/blog/2026/06...

Robert Diab reposted

cbc.caA proposed social media ban for kids is meant to protect them. Could it violate their rights? | CBC NewsLegal experts say the federal social media ban for kids leaves many questions unanswered — including whether it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Lawyers and law professors are raising flag...

20 June

Is Canada's teen social media ban constitutional? It's complicated: Legal experts warn Bill C-34 could leave federal government open to legal challenges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

robertdiab.substack.comParliament has amended Bill C-22, but has it addressed the biggest privacy concerns?The House has passed the lawful access bill with amendments, still leaving crucial issues in question

19 June

Thoughts on Canada's contentious lawful access bill that the House has just passed. robertdiab.substack.com/p/parliament...

19 June

Great idea Sarah and great work! CanLII's open collection of legal commentary is invaluable.

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globalnews.caCBC to stop airing ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ next season, Rogers says - National | Globalnews.caRogers Sportsnet and the CBC say that the public broadcaster will not carry NHL broadcasts next season.

Shocked, speechless.

Luke LeBrun@lukelebrun.ca

Hockey Night in Canada has been fully privatized

Robert Diab reposted

15 June

I have regularly butted heads with the Privacy Commissioners we've had over the past 20+ years, but sidelining an organization with decades of experience to empower an as yet unconstituted body is frankly shocking. #BillC34

Bill C-34 will change our relationships with AI and the bonds we forge with it. It will regulate the content of our conversations but also the way chatbots behave with us...

Duties to terminate conversations upon suicidal or violent ideations, to avoid deception, emotional manipulation. Even to provide instant connection with a human in times of crisis.

robertdiab.substack.comHow Bill C-34 will change our relationships with AIIt will regulate the content of our conversations, but also the bonds we forge

What will all of this mean to the way we relate to AI? How will our experience change? And will any of this help avoid some of the most tragic harms we hear about? robertdiab.substack.com/p/how-bill-c...

13 June

After making it free to test for a couple of weeks, last night Anthropic suspended access to Fable 5...

Robert Diab reposted

youtu.beProtecting kids or deputizing censors? The risks posed by social media banYouTube video by National Post

12 June

I had a good chat with Rob Breakenridge of the National Post about Bill C-34 aka the Safe Social Media Act. youtu.be/lcMrlLhjeV0

Robert Diab reposted

11 June

Though most of Bill C-34 Safe Social Media Act is left to regulations or Commission rulemaking, it is clear that once it comes into effect young people will be precluded from learning about this law on this site, and all Canadians will have to prove they old enough to handle it.

robertdiab.substack.comWill Canadians now have to prove their age to use social media?A first look at Bill C-34, Canada’s new Safe Social Media Act, and how the under-16 ban might work

11 June

Will Canadians soon have to prove their age to use social media? Bill C-34 leaves many important details to future regulations. Which platforms will be covered? How will age verification work? Will some services be exempt? I take a brief look here: robertdiab.substack.com/p/will-canad...

nationalmagazine.caAI tools for case law research keep getting betterCanLII and AI connectors are making legal research in Canada smarter, faster, and more accessible

6 June

CanLII and AI connectors are making legal research in Canada smarter, faster, and more accessible... www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

Robert Diab reposted

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR

@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org

6 June

"Chilling effects can be subtle, but today they are everywhere. And it’s not just students who are chilled by Trump administration threats." @penney.bsky.social, author of Chilling Effects, on Donald Trump and free speech for @theconversation.com #LawSky #PoliSky https://cup.org/4fIEAFl

theconversation.comChilling effects of Trump’s war on free speech extend far beyond campus walls – and that’s the pointA persistent government strategy to sow fear through punitive measures has corroded freedom and democracy.

Robert Diab reposted

CBA/ABC National

@cba-nationalmag.bsky.social

4 June

OPED: Lawyers looking for AI-assisted case law research have, until recently, faced a stark choice. @robertdiab.bsky.social says two new tools have changed that. nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

nationalmagazine.caAI tools for case law research keep getting betterCanLII and AI connectors are making legal research in Canada smarter, faster, and more accessible

4 June

I found this enormously informative — a close reading of the encryption and metadata provisions, and implications of the Cloud Act agreement on the way. Thanks @cyn-k.bsky.social, @kate-robertson.bsky.social, and @digitalprivacy.ca!

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Robert Diab reposted

cacp.caNPF, CPA and CACP call for passage of Bill C-22 to provide necessary lawful access in Canada - Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police

4 June

The principal police lobby groups (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, National Police Federation and Canadian Police Association) have something to say about Bill C-22 Lawful Access, and it's so full of crap that I hardly know where to start. www.cacp.ca/cgi/page.cgi...

After months in the pipeline... (link below), drawing on the work of @kjhealy.co, @nsrnicek.bsky.social, @mcopelov.bsky.social and @davidgunkel.bsky.social

link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...

link.springer.comThe Emerging Post-Network Society and the Language Model as Social Form

The most extensive look at Bill C-22 thus far, finding parts of it "almost certainly constitutionally fatal" — from @cancivlib.bsky.social and @citizenlab.ca (link below)

citizenlab.ca/research/ana...

citizenlab.caThe Citizen Lab (Un)forced Errors: Analysis of Proposed Surveillance Law Expansion under Bill C-22, An Act respecting lawful access -This submission analyzes Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, which would enact broad surveillance obligations and reforms in Canada. Issues include: the bill’s sweeping scope, significant constitutional...

Robert Diab reposted

lawfaremedia.orgSkirting Judicial Scrutiny by Mooting and ScootingWe rely on providers to resist improper surveillance. The Justice Department uses a “moot and scoot” tactic to hobble this protection.

2 June

Replying to @privacylawyer.ca

Hat tip to Richard Salgado for teaching me the term "moot and scoot." www.lawfaremedia.org/article/skir...

Robert Diab reposted

CBA/ABC National

@cba-nationalmag.bsky.social

2 June

OPED: There's another hearing on C-22 today. As major tech companies threaten to leave Canada & U.S. lawmakers weigh in, the government has signaled it will amend the bill. But @robertdiab.bsky.social says the constitutional questions won't end there. www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

nationalmagazine.caNational - CBA National - Canadian Legal Affairs

Robert Diab reposted

1 June

Tune in tomorrow as the #SECU committee has agreed to another hearing on Bill C-22 Lawful Access. Some great organizations to hear from. www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentView...

buff.lyCarney Wants Your Data. Why Won't Big Tech Give it to him?Last year, the government pushed Bill C-2, their marquee border security bill that didn’t even make it to committee because of the backlash. But now, Bill C-22 is here, and things are feeling a little deja vu.

2 June

Enjoyed this convo with @noorazrieh.bsky.social of @canadaland.com about Bill C-22 and why it matters.

Canadaland@canadaland.com

Sweeping powers, secret orders, the beginning of a surveillance state… What actually is the Liberals’ new lawful access legislation: Bill C 22?

Robert Diab reposted