The Decibel

Household chores can be seen as a drain on your time. But to some AI companies, how you do those chores is valuable data. Apps like Atlas Capture are using videos of people sweeping or cleaning a toilet to train humanoid robots. Who are the people doing this work for AI companies? And is the pay (usually around US$3 per hour) worth their time?
Joe Castaldo is The Globe’s AI and tech reporter and he tried out the technology firsthand. He’s on the show to tell us what this work looks like, what the people doing this labour think about it and what it means for humanity when we teach robots to do chores.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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Today is the referendum in Alberta, where Albertans will cast their vote either to remain part of Canada or start the process to hold another referendum to leave (among other ballot questions). But this issue stretches far beyond the past few years – it goes back to before Alberta was a province of Canada.
Today, we’re going through the history of the Alberta separatist movement with Tyler Dawson. He’s an opinion editor for The Globe based in Edmonton, and the author of The Republic of Alberta: An idea that won’t go away.
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This past week, a judge in Washington state heard arguments around whether a woman accused of conspiring with the Tumbler Ridge shooter should be released before her trial. James Cody Bryant – who identifies as a woman and uses she/her pronouns – was arrested by U.S. authorities at the beginning of the month.
Jesse Winter is a reporter and photographer with The Globe. He went to report on Ms. Bryant’s pretrial hearing in person. He explains the specific allegations against her, what the judge ruled regarding whether to keep her in custody and gives an update on the other legal proceedings surrounding the fallout from one of Canada’s worst mass shootings.
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For many, AI is no longer a curiosity but increasingly built into our daily lives. Whether through intentional use of chatbots or its inclusion in online searches, it’s radically changing the way we receive information. Products, brands, services are all being tailor-made for you, through the use of AI.
But what if these recommendations are being manipulated behind the scenes?
Today, we have Nick Koudas joining us on the show. Dr. Koudas is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto.
He’ll tell us how the way you are marketed products is changing, whether you’re aware of it or not and what that means for both consumers and businesses alike.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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The populations of Vancouver and Toronto have doubled in the past 50 years, but in certain neighbourhoods of those cities, populations have declined by as much as 40 per cent.
The Globe’s architecture critic Alex Bozikovic explains why neighbourhoods have lost so many residents, what that means for the areas, and how it might present a solution to the housing crises.

This episode’s headline has been updated to clarify that the cities discussed are two of Canada’s biggest, not the biggest, as previously published.
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