The Decibel

In the last several years, the village of Elora, Ont. has undergone a renaissance. Its picturesque downtown has welcomed more than 750,000 visitors annually which is up from 500,000 visitors just a few years prior. A number of Elora’s 19th century buildings have undergone restoration. Many of Elora’s recent real estate developments have been led by Kat Florence, a hotel company that has bought up historic properties and is now one of the village’s largest landlords.
But not everyone in Elora is happy. Some residents have criticized Kat Florence and say the company wields too much power in the village. Kat Florence has pushed back issuing defamation lawsuits and cease-and-desist letters against its loudest critics.
Greg Mercer, investigative journalist with the Globe, reported from Elora. He’s on the show to explain the tensions between residents and developers over a core question: who gets to decide how a community grows and changes?
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As artificial intelligence seeps into every aspect of our lives, white-collar workers are wondering what that means for job security. And some are pre-emptively making the shift to work that they see as AI-proof in fields like skilled trades.
And while there’s not a lot of clear evidence that AI is actively eliminating white-collar jobs, there are trends in the job market to pay attention to. The Globe’s future of work reporter, Vanmala Subramaniam, tells us about the people switching careers and what white-collar workers should be thinking about in this moment.
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GLP-1 medications revolutionized the way we treat chronic weight management and diabetes by helping to quiet “food noise”. Researchers are now looking into whether these medications can also be used to dampen “drug noise” and help treat people with substance use disorders.
Alanna Smith is a health reporter for The Globe and she’s been looking into what’s going on with the research around GLP-1s being used to tread opioid addiction. She’s on the show to talk about the excitement and the reluctance on this potential treatment.
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In early August, OpenAI hosted dozens of lifestyle creators at an upstate New York resort for a weekend they called Summer Club. There was beekeeping. There were farm-to-table dinners. And in between, there were sessions on how to use ChatGPT. The ensuing backlash was swift, especially against the female influencers.
This episode of Machines Like Us delves into the money pouring into AI marketing that goes far beyond a luxury brand trip. Tech billionaires and super PACs are spending millions to quietly flood your social media feeds. Some have paid influencers for undisclosed deals pushing AI-positive and anti-China messaging. Others have gone so far as to fund radical anti-AI meme accounts that threaten their own CEOs – all to make their critics look unhinged.
Tech and culture journalist Taylor Lorenz has spent more than a decade reporting on online creators. She’s been following the dark money behind these co-ordinated campaigns to buy up digital influence and shift the public debate around AI.

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The European Union has dropped its offer to give Canada the status of ‘associate member.’ This comes after pushback from some member states and reluctance from Canadian politicians to use the term. But both sides insist they are not abandoning their new efforts at forging a closer partnership.
Today, EU and Canadian officials are meeting in Montreal to try to hammer out details around strengthening ties in trade, security and finances. Steven Chase is in Montreal to cover this summit and explains how both governments are trying to build an alliance that makes them less dependent on the U.S.
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