OpenAI files confidential SEC paperwork for IPO, opening the door to a Wall Street debut

ChatGPT maker OpenAI filed preliminary paperwork that would open the door to it becoming a publicly traded company, the third in a powerhouse trio of artificial intelligence companies racing to Wall Street debuts.

The San Francisco-based company said Monday it has filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” the company said in a statement. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

OpenAI's move follows its rival Anthropic's June 1 disclosure that it is also moving toward an initial public offering of shares. Both are now following Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, which has started an IPO roadshow pitching itself as an AI-focused space company.

Saying ‘no’ to AI data centre a huge win for Manitoba — and Kinew

It’s a tale of two provinces — and two artificial intelligence data centre mega-projects.

Quebec aluminum smelters more resilient than expected despite U.S. tariffs

MONTRÉAL - A major aluminum association in Canada says the impact of U.S. tariffs on the industry has been less dire than expected.

Jean Simard, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, says the industry is operating at 95 per cent capacity.

“No slowdown, no layoffs," Simard said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Thursday about the effect of 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on aluminum.

“It’s less painful than we anticipated," Simard said. "The problem, fundamentally, is the lack of visibility into the future. We’re in a world of total uncertainty."

Limited interest in latest oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two corporations bid on a handful of leases during the latest oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, a showing critics described as tepid but one that further opens the door to possible development in the pristine region.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state corporation that already has leases in the refuge's coastal plain, had the winning bid on three tracts and Hex Energy LLC on two, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced. The tracts cover about 72,000 acres. Nearly 690,000 acres had been offered. Winning bids totaled $3.7 million.

The federal agency's state director, Kevin Pendergast, said a “new era of active leasing and exploration is just beginning to unfold.”

While there is no active drilling underway, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s board last month authorized additional spending for efforts including a seismic survey program aimed at locating oil formations, as well as lease purchases in this latest sale. A message seeking comment from Hex Energy was not immediately returned.

Premier pulls plug on proposed AI data centre

Premier Wab Kinew says a massive artificial intelligence data centre southeast of Winnipeg will not go ahead.

“The very limited economic benefits for this project do not outweigh the serious environmental concerns and the unique rural way of life that people in the region enjoy,” Kinew told reporters at the Manitoba legislature on Thursday.

The public should be skeptical about “hyperscale” data centres that are being proposed in many jurisdictions, he added.

“It’s very clear AI is transforming our economy and our society,” Kinew said. “But I think Manitobans want that to happen in a way where AI serves us and we’re not servants of AI.”

AP exclusive: Iran players describe how the war affects their World Cup preparations

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Iran is heading to the World Cup while the country is at war with the primary host nation, a situation that is unique in the tournament’s history.

In exclusive interviews with The Associated Press during a team camp in Turkey, two members of Iran’s squad described how the conflict is affecting its World Cup preparations.

“Well, to be honest, it’s not easy,” said Saeid Ezatolahi, a 29-year-old midfielder who also played for Iran in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

“That’s going to be my third World Cup. So for me and some of the other players, it might be easier to manage these kind of things,” he said in English on the sidelines of a training session on Wednesday. “But at the end ... it is going to be difficult for us because at the same time, we are following the news in our country and the political things, of course, can affect the mind of the players and the people."

New $2.3B federal AI strategy looks to close ‘adoption gap,’ build public trust

OTTAWA - Ottawa wants to increase Canadians' use of artificial intelligence — and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety.

Announcing the government's new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said "globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and trust."

The long-awaited AI strategy says Canada has "a major adoption gap." It says closing the gap in training and literacy "is the foundation on which everything else depends."

A new literacy initiative will offer entry-level AI training to all Canadians and the government will ensure "all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents," the document says.

Canada sends letter to U.S., Mexico calling for renewal of trade agreement

WASHINGTON - Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he had a positive meeting with his American counterpart in Washington a day after sending a letter to the United States and Mexico recommending that the three countries renew the continental trade pact.

LeBlanc said he presented specific proposals to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and talked about long-standing issues Americans have raised about Canada.

"We discussed how we can work together on a number of issues that strengthen the competitiveness of the North American economy," LeBlanc said at the Canadian Embassy on Tuesday following the meeting with Greer.

The letter from LeBlanc to Greer and Mexico's secretary of economy, Marcelo Ebrard, is a requirement of the mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA.

Manitoba makes strides on poverty, but EIA rates must increase: report

When Jayline Bursey gets her monthly Employment and Income Assistance cheque, it’s gone almost immediately.

New essay collection explores menace of far-right movements in Canada

“Democracy is at stake and Canada is not immune to its demise,” states Miriam Edelson, editor of this timely anthology, warning that right-wing extremism, energized by memes and trolls permeating digital spaces, is heralding social and political change and affecting how current generations view the slow, often cumbersome democratic process.

Edelson’s well-researched observations are supported by 18 different contributors comprised of an array of like-minded academics, researchers and concerned activists who collectively alert readers to the extremist messaging that is altering some long-standing expectations of responsible governance.

Edelson’s social activism was honed by personal experiences while living in Toronto and working with the Canadian labour movement, spawning a literary legacy of personal essays and commentaries published by the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and Literary Review. Her earlier book, My Journey with Jake: A Memoir of Parenting and Disability (2000) remains a poignant reminder that society functions best when individuals share a common purpose of looking out for one another.

In a concise foreword to Confronting the Resurgent Right, University of Manitoba professor and award- winning Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair similarly reminds readers that “far right movements built on hate,” like those earlier thrust upon Indigenous people and still targeting Jews, Muslims and other identifiable groups, inexorably lead to “racism, violence, and genocide.”

Impulsive kids easy prey for addictive-by-design content

The allure of the screen is powerful, and despite working full-time in the realm of media literacy education, my home is not immune to the siren song of social media.

Carney discussed artificial intelligence with Pope Leo

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney told Pope Leo XIV on Friday that Canada wants to take a leadership role in the responsible development of artificial intelligence.

The conversation happened days after the Pope called for robust regulation of AI.

"They discussed the imperative that AI must serve humanity, beginning with the protection of the individual," the Prime Minister's Office said in a release.

"Prime Minister Carney expressed Canada’s desire to lead internationally on responsible AI and tools to benefit the global community."

Chinese online retailer Temu hit with $232 million fine over unsafe toys and electronics

LONDON (AP) — Temu was hit with a 200 million euro ($232 million) fine Thursday after a European Union investigation found the Chinese online retailer failed to protect consumers from illegal products like toxic or hazardous toys and unsafe electronics.

The 27-nation EU's fine follows preliminary findings last year that Temu was exposing consumers to a high risk of products sold on its platform like baby toys and small electronics that didn't comply with EU consumer safety rules.

The bloc's executive arm issued the penalty under the Digital Services Act, or DSA, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe from harmful content or dodgy goods, under the threat of hefty fines.

It's the second time Brussels has issued a fine under three-year-old DSA, following a $120 million penalty last year for Elon Musk's social media site X.

Think it’s hot now? The next five years will smash records, UN says

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the next five years, the Earth is overwhelmingly likely to surge again and again past the international climate threshold set as safe and shatter its hottest-year record along the way, according to new United Nations climate projections.

The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 degrees Celsius) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth's natural defenses to lessen human-caused climate change. A hotter globe from the burning of coal, oil and gas means more extreme weather including floods, droughts and heat waves, scientists said.

The projections by the U.N. climate agency and the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office said there's a 75% chance that the average global temperature between 2026 and 2030 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher compared to pre-industrial times. That threshold is the agreed-upon limit of warming — averaged over 20 years — set in 2015 by the Paris climate agreement.

A U.N. science report a few years later detailed how exceeding that 1.5 mark means more likely death, danger and species loss. Even though it's only a few tenths of a degree, some of the planet's ecosystems, such as coral and glaciers, can't handle the strain.

Hate crimes jump in Winnipeg in 2025

The number of reported crimes that were classified as hate-motivated by the Winnipeg Police Service more than doubled in 2025, although the true number of incidents is thought to be higher.

Manitoba delinquency rate rises amid cost of living strain: Equifax

Manitobans are increasingly missing credit card payments as the cost of living rises.

Non-mortgage debt in Manitoba jumped 1.84 per cent, when comparing January through March to the same time last year. Manitobans’ average non-mortgage debt hung around $18,568.

Meanwhile, the measure tracking when Manitobans pass payment deadlines by at least 90 days — called a delinquency rate — hiked 2.32 per cent year-over-year, according to new data from credit reporting agency Equifax Canada.

“It’s not the worst province, by a long way,” said Rebecca Oakes, Equifax vice-president of advanced analytics. “But … (there’s) also a little bit more financial stress than some of the other provinces.”

Reported Germany-Canada LNG deal would bolster investment case for Ksi Lisims: Eby

A deal to supply Canadian liquefied natural gas to Germany would be a key step toward the partners behind the Ksi Lisims project deciding to go ahead with their $10-billion West Coast plant and export terminal, British Columbia Premier David Eby said Tuesday.

Eby made his remarks after multiple outlets reported German firm SEFE is poised to buy gas shipped from Ksi Lisims and a day before federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson is scheduled to make an announcement about international energy exports in Vancouver.

The B.C. premier said his government has long been supportive of the project being pursued by the Nisga'a Nation alongside Houston-based Western LNG and Rockies LNG, a group of Canadian natural gas producers. The companies and the First Nation declined to comment on Tuesday.

"We look forward to celebrating the formal announcement of this with the Nisga'a, with the federal government. It's an example of the work we're doing together and we're super proud of it," Eby told reporters after a meeting with western premiers in Kananaskis, Alta.

NASA lays out moon base plans with landers, buggies and drones at the top of the list

NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II's record-breaking lunar flyaround.

Inclusion groups sign open letter calling on Ottawa to halt MAID for mental illness

OTTAWA - Ninety disability advocacy and mental health organizations have signed an open letter urging the federal Liberals to permanently exclude people with mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying.

Inclusion Canada is leading the effort, which includes Disability Without Poverty, the Schizophrenia Society of Canada and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Under current law, people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness will become eligible to apply for MAID assessments beginning in March 2027.

The letter, which is addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Justice Minister Sean Fraser, says that would be "a significant and misguided expansion."

Brazilian government commits $617.5M to Amazon ecological investment

SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian government said Monday it has committed 3.1 billion reais ($617.5 million) to foster ecological investment in the Amazon region, as part of a plan to expand a federal program known as Eco Invest that was announced during last year’s COP30 — the annual United Nations climate summit it hosted last year.

The resources are expected to go toward businesses that support sustainable tourism, improve infrastructure in the Amazon and expand the “bioeconomy” — the so-called economic activity based on natural resources that preserves the forest.

The model uses a blended finance approach in which the National Treasury lends funds to banks at an annual rate of 1%. In return, banks must mobilize at least four times that amount in private investment, with foreign investors accounting for at least 60%. So far, the program has committed 140 billion reais ($28 billion) in combined public and private resources.

The National Treasury allocated 3.1 billion reais ($617.5 million) Monday and eight banks committed another 10.1 billion reais ($2 billion) in the latest auction of the Eco Invest program, the Ministry of Environment said.

Anand says Israel’s ‘mistreatment’ of Canadians in flotilla violated UN treaty

OTTAWA - Israel’s mistreatment of Canadians participating in a flotilla trying to reach Gaza violated the Vienna Convention, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Monday.

In a social media post, Anand said she spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar about the issue on Monday morning.

"I raised that denying Canadian citizens access to consular services while they were detained violates the Vienna Convention and must never happen again," she said. "Canada is providing Israeli authorities with evidence of this mistreatment. We have asked for and expect an independent investigation and those responsible to be held to account."

Twelve Canadians were among 420 people on 41 boats intercepted by Israel on May 18 and 19 as they attempted to bring a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza in the midst of Israeli restrictions.

Could anything but profit steer AI? The OpenAI trial offered clues but no verdict

The trial pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made clear the two billionaires agreed on one thing: building artificial intelligence would require significant resources — and enormous amounts of money.

It may seem obvious now, as an AI-obsessed stock market helps finance a global construction boom of chipmaking factories and energy-hogging data centers to keep chatbots running, but testimony and evidence showed how people with outsized control of the AI industry were privately debating its costs nearly a decade ago.

“Even raising several hundred million won’t be enough,” Musk said in a 2018 email to Altman and other OpenAI co-founders about what he increasingly saw as a futile attempt to compete with Google. “This needs billions per year immediately or forget it.”

The soaring costs factored into the trajectory of OpenAI, which began in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the common good and is now a capitalistic enterprise valued at $852 billion. As San Francisco-based OpenAI and other AI companies move toward historically large Wall Street debuts, the trial also raised questions about whether anything but commercial interests can steer AI’s future.

What you don’t know can, in fact, hurt you

‘What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

It’s an interesting maxim, accurate in some settings.

But equally accurate might be, “What you won’t know, can hurt you.”

The last few years of politics — particularly in the United States but in other places as well — have been remarkably fractious and absolutist. You’re on one side or the other. You choose who to listen to, and what to believe in. People you don’t agree with are obviously stupid.

Adverse weather slows pace of seeding to below 5-year average

High winds and a cool spring have caused a lag in Manitoba’s crop-planting season.

At this time last year, more than half of crops — at least 57 per cent — had been seeded, according to reports. By Tuesday, just 37 per cent of 2026 seeding was complete.

The pace falls behind the five-year average: 43 per cent of seeding is usually done by May 19.

A crop report from the Manitoba government points to “extremely high winds” and rainfall slowing progress.