Plus: AbCellera cashes in on menopause drug breakthrough.
As AI finds its way into more of our everyday life and work, the companies that make, or rely heavily on, the technology are trying to balance perceived productivity gains with policies that promote transparency.
The news: On Tuesday, Anthropic announced it will add watermarks to text generated by its AI models, such as Claude, in response to European regulations. Anthropic didn’t specify exactly how the watermark will work, only that it will travel with the text when copied and pasted elsewhere, and that it “may”—a notable word choice—persist through editing.
From the source: Tech writer Katie Notopoulos questioned if this move by Anthropic, as well as AI detection at large, might devolve into a “never-ending game of whack-a-mole” where the tools often get it wrong. “At what point does this become an arms race between AI users and AI detectors… do we ever call a truce and just go back to sending typo-filled emails[?]” she writes for Business Insider.
The context: According to TechCrunch, companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI have also committed to adding identifiers to AI-generated content. The move to watermarking comes as institutions like MIT have stated that AI detection tools don’t work, and are instead encouraging clear policies and expectations around AI use.
Canadian-founded, New York City-based AI sales unicorn Clay is adopting the latter approach. The company’s new AI Writing Policy encourages its employees to take responsibility for every idea in their work, even if AI generated them.
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Latest news across tech
Ouroboros feasts
The circular nature of AI financing got more pronounced this week as the Financial Times reported that the world’s largest financiers are assembling a $500-billion funding package for Nvidia. The chipmaker intends to use the funds to support the AI buildout that its own business supplies.
The Zuck has struck
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg weighed in on the open weights debate this week. In yet another lengthy tech CEO manifesto, Zuckerberg called for the US to lower barriers for open-source AI models to better compete with foreign labs. Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez lauded Zuckerberg’s stance, calling focus on progress over risks the “right vision for the future of AI.”
From flax to firepower
As global conflict increases the demand for the explosive compound nitrocellulose, it has become a national priority for Canada to produce its own. The Globe and Mail profiles CellCore Technologies, the Canadian company aiming to become a sovereign supplier by tapping into, of all things, the domestic flax industry.
Gym-class cyberattack
Andrew Bird was just sitting on his couch, annoyed at how difficult it was to book a class at his gym. When the Australian man asked his personal AI agent to book it for him, the agent discovered vulnerabilities which it exploited to bump him up the waitlist, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Hot market for hot flashes
Vancouver drug discovery platform AbCellera’s stock is soaring after results from its latest human trial showed its menopause treatment could be the most effective at relieving hot flashes. The public company cashed in on that interest by opening up a $200-million USD public offering of common shares and warrants on Tuesday.
Not-so-artificial intelligence
What if artificial intelligence wasn’t artificial at all? Wired enters the world of organoids: small, lab-grown brains filled with millions of neurons that researchers say could eventually grow big enough to become biological processors. The jury is still out on the ethics.
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On the move
This week’s hires, fires, and exec shakeups:
- Former Amazon head of Canadian public policy Jacob Glick has joined Anthropic in the same role.
- Schneider Electric Canada promoted Shaun MacGarvie to VP of national sales and Sophie Chadefaud to VP of marketing.
- National Bank of Canada added retired general Rick Hillier as its strategic defence advisor as it looks to further support the country’s defence industry.
- Former Council of Canadian Innovators chief of staff Abu Kamat joined the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association in the same role.
- Kitchener-Waterloo-based Convictional will shut down after a failed pivot; founder and CEO Roger Kirkness says he plans to help the 14-person team find new jobs.
- More than one-third of Canadian SMEs expect to expand hiring over the next six months, according to a new report from HR platform Employment Hero.
Want to feature a hiring announcement on our list? Email [email protected] with the subject line JOBS.
#1. How did Alberta Premier Danielle Smith describe an AI data centre in a recent explainer video posted to social media?
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Quiz answer: c) “A digital refinery.” Smith made the comparison to the oil industry in an explainer video justifying her province’s commitment to data centres, saying a data centre refines natural gas into “the most valuable commodity of our time.”
Quiz answer: c) “A digital refinery.” Smith made the comparison to the oil industry in an explainer video justifying her province’s commitment to data centres, saying a data centre refines natural gas into “the most valuable commodity of our time.”
1 Direct sync available for supported accounting systems: QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Microsoft Business Central, and Sage Intacct.
2 This percentage is an estimate, not a guarantee. More details at ramp.com/canada.
Contributors: Alex Riehl (Ottawa staff writer), Douglas Soltys (editor in chief), Sarah Rieger (managing editor), Trevor Nichols (web editor).
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Aerps.com.
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