The barista is human but an AI agent runs this experimental Swedish cafe

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The coffee might be poured by a human hand, but behind the counter something far less traditional is calling the shots at an experimental cafe in Stockholm.

San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs has put an artificial intelligence agent nicknamed “Mona” in charge at the eponymous Andon Café in the Swedish capital. While human baristas still brew the coffee and serve the orders, the AI agent — powered by Google’s Gemini — oversees almost every other aspect of the business, from hiring staff to managing inventory.

It is not clear how long the experiment will last, but the AI agent appears to be struggling to turn a profit in Stockholm’s competitive coffee trade. The cafe has made more than $5,700 in sales since it opened in mid-April, but less than $5,000 remains from its original budget of $21,000-plus. Much of the cash was spent on one-time setup costs, and the hope is that it eventually levels out and makes money.

Many cafe patrons have found it amusing to visit a business that's run by AI. Customers can pick up a telephone inside the cafe and ask the agent questions.

Manitoba Construction Career Expo draws students from across province with goal of ‘AI-resilient’ career options

More than 1,200 students from across Manitoba hammered nails, operated miniature machinery and even tried their hand at masonry at a hands-on career fair organizers called a pitch for the “AI-resilient” jobs of the future.

The Manitoba Construction Career Expo has been organized by the Winnipeg Construction Association for more than 15 years. As Canada’s career landscape has changed for youth, there’s been an increasing interest in logging out of the virtual world and finding a more tactile profession, said Darryl Harrison, the association’s director of stakeholder engagement and advocacy.

“There’s a lot of opportunities in construction, whether you pursue an apprenticeship or take another path toward the industry, but it generally leads to well-paying jobs and it leads to a career that we’re now calling AI-resilient,” Harrison said at the event at Red River Exhibition Place on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of careers where it’s questionable what the impact of AI will be, and we will always need hands-on work sites to build the buildings that we need.”

Foreign actors producing more false content about Alberta separatism: report

EDMONTON - Foreign actors are increasingly generating articles, podcasts and social media posts riddled with disinformation about Alberta's separatist movement, says a new report.

The report from a team of researchers, published Wednesday by the Canadian monitoring platform DisinfoWatch, says the campaigns are coming out of Russia and the United States.

It says social media influencers with millions of followers are generating the disinformation in the United States.

"This matters because influencers increasingly command more attention than traditional institutions and can move fringe narratives into mainstream political debate," the report says.

OpenAI did not respect Canadian privacy laws in developing ChatGPT, probe finds

OTTAWA - OpenAI failed to respect Canadian privacy laws when training its artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT chatbot, federal and provincial watchdogs have found.

The conclusion came Wednesday in a report on a joint investigation by federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and his counterparts from British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

ChatGPT, released in November 2022, is a popular conversation-style tool that responds to online users' prompts with a wide range of information almost instantly — responses that may or may not be accurate.

The privacy watchdogs found OpenAI's collection of information to train its models was overly broad, resulting in the compilation and use of sensitive personal details.

Think Shift appoints new chief executive on ‘AI plus AI’ approach

Rejecting return-to-office mandates, using artificial intelligence and working with more clients in the United States are top priorities for the new leader of a Winnipeg marketing agency that specializes in agriculture.

Solomon says delayed federal AI strategy coming soon, will address impact on jobs

OTTAWA - The federal government's promised new national AI strategy will consider the technology’s impacts on the labour market, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said on Monday.

It’s been six months since the government wrapped up fast-tracked consultations on the strategy. Solomon initially promised it would be tabled by the end of last year.

Solomon said last fall Canada couldn't afford to wait and had to move quickly. When he was asked Monday to explain the delay in introducing the strategy, he said it will be released "very soon."

While Solomon initially signalled an adoption-focused approach, experts say the public conversation around AI has shifted since to focus more on concerns about safety and social impact. Canada has also strengthened relationships with other middle powers that are more pro-regulation than the United States under President Donald Trump.

Empower youth by giving them tools to stay safe online

Do you support banning kids from social media? Do you also post photos of your kids on your Facebook or Instagram?

Whenever the topic of banning social media for kids comes up, as it did again this week when Premier Wab Kinew announced that Manitoba will ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, we run into a wee bit of cognitive dissonance among the adults.

Many of today’s young people had social media presences long before they were old enough to consent to them — not as users, but as content posted by their parents. Instagram is nearly 16 years old; the iPhone nearly 20. A lot of kids have had digital footprints since the sonogram. Their whole lives are online.

So, as young people who are already on social media transition into social media users themselves, we should, as a society, empower them to make informed decisions about how, where and if they want to show up online, not ban them from platforms they use to connect with their peers, express their creativity and learn about the world. Platforms they’ve grown up around and, in many cases, on.

US military reaches deals with 7 tech companies to use their AI on classified systems

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Friday that it has reached deals with seven tech companies to use their artificial intelligence in its classified computer networks, allowing the military to tap into AI-powered capabilities to help it fight wars.

Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Nvidia, OpenAI, Reflection and SpaceX will provide their resources to help “augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments,” the Defense Department said.

Notably absent from the list is AI company Anthropic, after its public dispute and legal fight with the Trump administration over the ethics and safety of AI usage in war.

The Defense Department has been rapidly accelerating its use of AI in recent years. The technology can help the military reduce the time it takes to identify and strike targets on the battlefield, while aiding in the organization of weapons maintenance and supply lines, according to a report in March from the Brennan Center for Justice.

Young Canadians want AI companies to make their chatbots less addictive: report

OTTAWA - A new report focusing on the perspectives of young people says the government should order AI companies to take steps to curb the addictive aspects of their AI chatbots.

It’s one of a series of recommendations made by youth between the ages of 17 and 23 who took part in roundtables across the country.

Participants presented the report — published by McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and Simon Fraser University's Dialogue on Technology Project — and its recommendations on Parliament Hill on Thursday.

Maddie Case, a youth fellow with the McGill centre, introduced the 25 young people who developed the chatbot recommendations.