Lately: Trump and Musk's bromance fallout, professors embracing AI and turning off GPS

Globe and Mail

a day ago

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🥊 Trump and Musk's bromance implodes on social media
🤖 The universities embracing AI
📍 Why you should turn off GPS
👾 Switch 2 is finally out
Usually, we don't witness messy, high-profile breakups in real-time. But when the two partners both own social media platforms – and have a penchant for posting their every thought and feeling – the drama unfolds in a remarkably public forum.
The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump started earlier this week, when the world's richest man called the president's signature domestic policy bill a 'disgusting abomination.' It escalated on Thursday, when they began sparring back and forth on their respective platforms, X and Truth Social. Musk fired a barrage of insults, appearing to call for the president's impeachment and alleging that he is in the Epstein files, while Mr. Trump in turn threatened to strangle the business interests of the billionaire who was, until very recently, one of his most profitable political pals.
The rift had immediate effects on Musk, with shares of Tesla plunging by roughly 15 per cent. But it also could have consequences for Trump's ability to spread his Make American Great Again agenda. 'The number one thing that keeps Trump's base on message, in line, obedient – it's Twitter,' said Florida political strategist Rick Wilson in an interview with Globe and Mail international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe. If Musk adjusts X's algorithm 'and stops promoting Trump's content automatically, I think it starts to change the messaging environment for MAGA.'
This week, two new projects that aim to make AI safer and more inclusive launched in Montreal. Famed AI researcher and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio is building a non-profit to develop safe AI systems that cannot deceive or harm humans. The organization, which has already raised close to US$30-million in philanthropic funding, is called LawZero – a reference to science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which stipulates that intelligent machines may not harm human beings.
LawZero was incubated at Mila, the prestigious Montreal-based AI institute. On Monday, the first cohort of 21 Indigenous students from across Canada gathered at Mila to learn about AI as part of a new six-week program. Students will learn about the technology and pitch ideas about how AI can be used to benefit Indigenous communities. The program's long-term goal is to help forge a network of AI professionals across the country. Although Indigenous people in Canada make up 5 per cent of the population, they make up less than 1 per cent in the tech sector.
Universities have been cautious about adopting new AI tools, often because they're worried about the possibility of rampant cheating. About 80 per cent of the more than 500 Ontario postsecondary students surveyed in a recent study said they had used generative AI, and about half were using it on a weekly basis, mostly for brainstorming and getting feedback on their writing. So rather than deny the inevitable, some Canadian schools are taking the view that AI should be integrated into the learning process. For example, some professors are encouraging their students to experiment with different large language models, while others have created AI teaching assistants to answer student questions.
The Global Positioning System, a network of two dozen satellites that can instantly pinpoint your location, began as a U.S. military project in the 1970s. In 1983, after a Korean airliner accidentally wandered into restricted Soviet airspace and was shot down, Ronald Reagan announced that GPS would be made available for limited civilian use. In 2000, Bill Clinton lifted the remaining restrictions, kick-starting our current reliance.
In an excerpt from his latest book The Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map, author (and Globe columnist) Alex Hutchinson explains how having a navigational tool in our hands at all times has changed how we construct the world around us. I relate to this. Last summer I ditched my iPhone for two weeks as part of a digital detox and was amazed how fulfilling it was to navigate without my iPhone. Sure, while I was visiting New York I got lost a couple of times. But I also felt I was taking in my surroundings more than I do when my eyes are glued to Google Maps.
Days-long 'dark retreats' are the newest spiritual conquest for tech elites (WIRED)
These companies are requiring workers to use the tech (The Washington Post)
Tech giants in the Gulf are building super-apps to dominate digital life (Rest of World)
Nintendo Switch 2, $629
At suburban malls and game stores across Canada, diehard video-game fans camped out on Thursday to snag the Switch 2, the follow-up to Nintendo's best-selling console of all time.
Nintendo teased the new Switch back in January and had to delay its preorders after U.S. President Donald Trump issued 24-per-cent tariffs on Japan, where the company is based, and 46-per-cent tariffs on Vietnam, where the majority of the consoles are manufactured. Nintendo was able to launch the device within Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs and said it wouldn't raise the price. However, if you missed out on the preorder and your local store is sold out, you may have to pay even more. Resellers are already auctioning off consoles on eBay.
Mountainhead, the new film from Succession screenwriter Jesse Armstrong out now on Crave, deftly skewers the tech-bro class. The film follows the story of a fictional social media platform called Traam, which is used by billions around the world, after it introduces new AI features without any content moderation, leading to the creation of real-time deepfakes that spark violent conflicts around the globe. As the world descends into chaos, the founder of Traam, along with three of his fellow tech bros, retreat to a luxurious mountain cabin for the weekend. In a review, The Globe's screens reporter J. Kelly Nestruck said, 'Armstrong's screwball dialogue in this film is as enjoyable – and unquotable in this newspaper – as Succession's at its most absurd.'