Today we hosted the very first episode of "AI & Current Events.”
Mia Shah-Dand, Founder - Women in AI Ethics™ and WAIE+
Here’s what keeps me up at night.
I was watching a documentary about romance scams and there are several reasons why this is so troubling.
One is the issue of women’s safety and exploitation. Many have lost their entire life’s savings. FTC reports that in 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam, and reported losses hit a staggering $1.3 billion. The numbers keep getting worse as the technology gets more sophisticated and more accessible.
There is growing use of deep fake technology in these scams. People are being pushed into digital spaces without any guidance on how to keep themselves and their information safe. Also, little discussed is the issue that a large number of young people have digital skills but no jobs.
We see the same in AI with the push to use it without any guidance on the information that you should not be sharing and how it can be used in harmful ways. Push towards coding, STEM, while competing for a decreasing number of jobs.
This is what we intend to address with WAIE+, and this what I will be focused on – safety, jobs, & economic opportunities for 99% of humanity.
Hessie Jones, Writer, Accelerator, Investor
Canada just passed a monumental legislation — called Bill C-5 — — Free Trade and labour mobility in Canada -
Carney has framed C-5 as essential to combat the urgent economic threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump to Canada's steel, auto and natural resources sectors. —
This bill was about asserting Canada’s economic autonomy.
Now Carney and the federal government has extraordinary power to fast-track initiatives to remove federal barriers to interprovincial trade — to increase GDP and create a more unified Canadian market
WHAT THIS MEANS?
· Opens up more procurement opportunities for businesses across canada
· Labour credential recognition — nurses, drivers - making it easier to work across provincial borders
· Standardize regulations for goods and service
· National interest projects like energy and energy transmission will now have streamlined approvals - This means extending technology resources, digital infrastructure, energy transmission lines across provinces from sea to sea
Let’s talk about Digital Services Tax
This was a federal tax introduced in 2024 to ensure big tech paid 3% tax on revenues generated from Canadian consumers. — retroactive to Jan 2022 — on global revenues exceeding 750 million and Canadian revenues exceeding $20 million.
DST was implemented to address the tax avoidance issues.
Big tech in the US has dominated leading to concerns about Canada’s ability to compete and innovate.
Rationale:
In 2023 - US tech companies made over $20 billion in Canada from content distribution; many US tech companies enjoyed tax breaks in digital advertising;
It made sense - "The decision to eliminate the DST makes sense. This tax would have fallen on Canadian consumers, businesses, and investors in the form of higher costs and hurt our economy at a critical time
But the priority was to bring the US to the table to support efforts to reach a comprehensive economic and security partnership with the U.S. by July 21, 2025
- to negotiate the trade deal — they know that the broader trade deal is the priority — last year exported $412 billion to the US. And imported $350 billion in the same year.
I also will be covering topics similar to Mia – limitations of AI; impacts on business adoption; user impacts in - economic and political environment where big tech companies become more influential players. More importantly what are the impacts to personal data privacy, agency, mental health, relationships, and transformations.
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