The Paikin Podcast

Gary Marcus joins Steve to discuss calls to slow down AI development, Anthropic’s IPO and mounting debt, Trump’s self-policing approach, the Hugging Face incident, rogue AI agents, anthropomorphizing AI, and whether LLMs, at their core, are incapable of ever truly aligning with human values. They also discuss whether AI is better than we are at writing literature or doing math (and if so, whether we should let it be), mathematician Tristan Buckmaster’s accusation that OpenAI stole from his unpublished work, how to regulate AI, and whether politicians who barely understand how it works are up to the task.

Bob Rae and former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella join Steve for a live taping of the podcast in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. They discuss the great "rupture" in Canada-U.S. relations, the day the world turned upside down, the "arsonist" in the White House, why Abella thinks we have been tolerating intolerance for too long, Trump's tariffs and threats of annexation, how Rae thinks Trump could try to divert fresh water from Canada, the ideological nature of the U.S. Supreme Court, rights being systematically rolled back in America, and Rae's new book, Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World.

Martha Hall Findlay joins Steve to discuss the University of Calgary’s new study on the economics of Alberta’s separation, how much it would cost Alberta to separate, estimates of up to $170 billion in the first five years, the difficulty of negotiating pipelines if you’re not part of Canada, and the smoother versus more “turbulent” fiscal possibilities. They also discuss Indigenous treaty complications, hiring 60k people into a new Albertan civil service, the possibility of Alberta becoming the 51st state, why Alberta would end up more like Puerto Rico than Texas, and the comparisons of the upcoming referendum to Brexit.

Kristina Kallas joins Steve for a live taping of the podcast to discuss her mission as Estonia’s Minister of Education, the role education plays in national security, declining trust in governments, AI as a mass misinformation machine, and the challenge of processing the sheer volume of information coming at us. They also discuss Estonia's experience living next to a belligerent neighbour in Russia, this era of information warfare, the war in Ukraine, Putin's aspirations in the Baltics, why education systems need to train us to be in a constant state of learning, and bringing AI into classrooms.

Carol Off joins Steve to discuss her book, True Patriot Love: Reporting from the Frontlines of Canadian Sovereignty, how Canada has become a beacon for liberal democracy, the rising threat to our sovereignty, how we can find our own way beyond American dependence, and the free trade debate of the 1980s. They also discuss her childhood, Pierre Trudeau's decision to move ahead with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms without Quebec's signature, the Meech Lake Accord, the CBC's role in Canadian identity, criticisms of left-wing bias at the CBC, and her experiences reporting in Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

Ontario’s 21st premier and Canada’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, joins Steve for one of their monthly chats to discuss the federal government saying no to expanding Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto’s waterfront, the fallout between PM Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the wildfires in Canada and Europe, whether the Liberal government has decided national unity is more important than climate change, and whether Canadian voters still give a damn about climate change. They also discuss British politics, Andy Burnham becoming the seventh British PM in ten years, Nigel Farage’s resignation and by-election “stunt,” and the legacy of Lindsey Graham.

Christine Elliott joins the Everything Political panel with former MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Tony Clement to discuss Trump's wildfire tariffs, the Gordie Howe bridge opening, and Elliott's organization Decency Matters. They also get into past incivility in politics, including an assault in Parliament with a hickory stick, whether politics is more civil behind the scenes than in front of the cameras, and what can be done to make politics more decent. They also take audience questions, including one on growing Canadian government debt and another on Conservative Party candidates being barred from participating in debates during elections.