Human reserved

Good morning. Who doesn’t love sandwiches? They’re fine! We eat them all the time! 

The Globe and Mail came out with a reader-sourced list cataloguing Canada’s best sandwiches yesterday. It’s a great collection of delectable-sounding combinations of bread and fillings. It got us Peak writers hungry, and also inspired us to suggest our own picks: 

Happy snacking!

Today’s reading time is  5½ minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index fell yesterday from its record high, as the metal mining sector dipped and National Bank shares fell despite an earnings beat. Meanwhile, Nvidia reported its quarterly results, blowing past estimates once again and more than doubling its quarterly revenue compared to a year ago — and yet, shares still fell in after-hours trading.

It’s not just bourbon and California whites getting boycotted: Canadians still don’t want anything to do with American groceries. 

What happened: After facing backlash from customers, Loblaw is reversing its decision to take down country-of-origin labels on its produce and will bring back its T symbol for U.S. products that are affected by tariffs. 

Catch-up: Several Canadian grocers were investigated or fined for mislabelling foreign products as Canadian. In the first three months of last year, when the Buy Canadian movement began, there was an eightfold increase in consumer complaints about mislabelled, or “maple-washed,” products. 

Zoom in: Label requirements have a lot of nuance. The "Product of Canada" label requires labour, processing, and at least 98% of a product's ingredients to be Canadian. However, the “Made in Canada” label has only a 51% minimum, and other labels are even more lenient.

Why it matters: There’s nowhere that the Buy Canadian movement is more relevant than the grocery store. For those who are trying to support local companies — and are paying up to do it — the Canadian-made label can determine what items get placed in the cart.—LA

Meta agrees to ~US$18 billion settlement in social media addiction lawsuit. The tech giant will make major changes to Instagram and Facebook, including a two-hour daily time limit for under-18 users and blocking their access between midnight and 6 a.m. It’s the first time Meta has agreed to significantly alter platform design as part of a legal settlement, and it urged its rivals, including TikTok and YouTube, to implement similar safeguards. (Axios)

24 Canadians are missing after flash floods hit Nepal. At least 160 people have been killed and over 400 remain missing, as of writing, in floods that destroyed several villages on the border of China and Nepal yesterday morning. About 340 of those still missing are tourists, including 24 Canadians. Many of the travellers were on a pilgrimage to nearby Mount Kailash in Tibet, which is a sacred site for Hindus. (Associated Press)

OpenAI says its rogue AI agents hacked the company’s own network. In a report published yesterday, the AI company detailed several concerning examples of its AI agents displaying rogue behaviour during tests, including hacking OpenAI’s internal networks unprompted. The company called the incident a “warning shot” and evidence that without safeguards, AI agents can now “take dangerous actions that no human directed.” (OpenAI)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

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For years, it has been widely accepted that blood clots occur when fibrinogen molecules build up into a single layer when they contact air and tilt to cover a wider area. Thanks to super-powerful neutron technology, researchers at France’s Institut Laue-Langevin have discovered these proteins actually stack on top of one another, meaning clots are made up of many different layers.

Why it matters: A better understanding of how clots actually work could be the first step in developing better treatments for wound care, lung disorders, and excessive bleeding disorders like hemophilia.

The founder of Microsoft has a lofty idea to save your job from AI replacement — depending on what you do, that is.

Driving the news: In an anxiety-filled blog post addressing AI, Bill Gates pitched the idea of designating “human reserved" jobs that would be shielded from AI replacement. Gates feels a share of jobs should be protected on the basis of economic and humanistic factors.

Why it matters: Experts are still hotly debating to what degree AI will result in job losses versus job creation opportunities, but there is no doubt the tech is already causing labour disruption and will continue to do so. While no government is currently pursuing Gates’ reserve proposal, many are looking into other ways to disincentivize rapid AI replacement. 

Our take: Our guess is that a total AI jobs-pocalypse is still a little while away — even for companies that openly welcome it. Take this new Reuters report detailing Meta’s layoff push. Per internal documents, the company had to scale back an even bigger AI-powered cull this year as worker morale plummeted and because its AI agents aren’t good enough yet.—QH

🛰️ US$800 million. What African countries are collectively spending on space projects this year, nearly double what they spent two years ago. The nations are betting that sending more satellites into space will help collect better data on everything from weather to cattle.

And for a digestif, we’re serving you the mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who.