The EU is once again leading the charge on regulating tech, this time with a new set of rules for AI businesses. 

What happened: The European Union has reached a deal to establish the world’s most comprehensive AI legislation to date, including strict regulations for AI model developers and restrictions on the use of AI in biometric surveillance. 

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Brian Armstrong to talk about what's going on with crypto in Canada and what the future holds for the industry.

Our picks for what to eat, read, watch, and listen to this weekend.

Tesla is learning the hard way that the only thing Scandinavians love more than skiing and cured seafood is the right to collective bargaining agreements. 

Driving the news: Denmark and Norway’s largest private sector unions and Finland’s transport union plan to halt the delivery of all Tesla vehicles destined for Sweden that come through their ports if the company fails to reach a labour deal with striking Swedish workers.

Would you be the face of a Russian disinformation campaign for $200? Well, that’s exactly the situation in which a handful of celebrities found themselves this week.  

Driving the news: Several famous faces like Elijah Wood and Priscilla Presley were tricked into making videos that were edited and used to attack Volodymyr Zelensky, the latest in a series of organized efforts by Russian trolls to warp perceptions around the war in Ukraine. 

What is end-to-end encryption?

A messaging system where only the users can participate. This means your internet provider, mobile provider, law enforcement and even the company that makes the app you are using can’t read your messages.

Anyone paying attention to Google’s big AI announcement on Wednesday may have been left with two main questions: how is it different from ChatGPT, and is it any good?

Amazon is still preparing to send its first satellite into space, but it has started laying the groundwork for bringing its internet service to Canada.

What happened: Amazon’s job site currently has a posting for a country manager to run Project Kuiper, the company’s satellite broadband internet service, in Canada.

The world’s biggest fast-food chain is going big in a quest for cold drink supremacy. 

What happened: McDonald's is launching a new restaurant concept called CosMc’s, a grab-and-go-style spin-off that will directly compete with the cold drink offerings at Starbucks, including menu items like churro frappes, pear slushies, and turmeric spiced lattes.

The newest admissions requirement for foreign students looking to get into a Canadian university has nothing to do with grades or extracurriculars. 

What happened: International students planning to study in Canada next year need to prove they have at least $20,635 in their bank account—up from the current requirement of $10,000. 

Not to alarm you, but for some reason, the federal agency managing our seafood has the power to snoop at your phone. Allow us to explain. 

What happened: The Parliamentary Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics is launching an investigation into the government’s use of spyware technology that can extract sensitive personal data from smartphones, computers, and tablets. 

People are used to getting surprises when they sign up for 23andMe, but “some hackers got their hands on your DNA” usually isn’t among them.

What happened: 23andMe, one of the world’s most popular DNA testing companies, confirmed that an October data breach resulted in hackers successfully swiping data from 6.9 million users—just a touch more than the 14,000 users that were initially estimated. 

We love Canada but must admit that other countries are superior in certain areas—things like better sun, tastier cuisine, and, crucially, better access to family doctors.

Driving the news: Canadian access to family doctors lags well behind that of other OECD countries with public healthcare systems, according to a new University of Toronto study that compared healthcare systems in Denmark, the U.K., Finland, France, Germany and more. 

Who doesn’t love throwin’ up their feet and crackin’ open an ice-cold beer? 

Turns out, a growing segment of the population.

Driving the news: Alcohol giant Diageo is looking to exit the ice-cold—and not in a good way—beer biz, with plans to divest all of its beer brands except Guinness, per Axios. 

The problem: Because no one’s accessibility needs are exactly the same, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to make video game consoles accessible to people with disabilities.

The solution: Sony’s Access controller for the PlayStation 5 is a modular device that allows players to arrange and remap the buttons to pick a configuration that works for them. 

More than 50 organizations have joined together to get the industry on board with open AI (no, not that one).

What happened: Meta and IBM are leading what is called the AI Alliance, a group advocating for an open source approach to developing AI, saying it is the faster way to innovate and identify societal risks.

People are used to getting surprises when they sign up for 23andMe, but “some hackers got their hands on your DNA” usually isn’t among them.

What happened: 23andMe disclosed that an October data breach allowed hackers to steal data from 6.9 million users.

After persevering through the most destructive year ever for wildfires in Canada, firefighters are in Ottawa trying to get more assistance before the next wildfire season.  

Driving the news: Over 40 fire chiefs from across the country are meeting with federal officials today to drum up support. One of their main asks is to increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit from $3,000 a year to $10,000 in order to attract more volunteers.

The world's largest retailer is banking on a holiday season staple to boost sales: the cheesy holiday rom-com.

Driving the news: Walmart has launched a 23-part shoppable rom-com TV series called Add to Heart (get it, like ‘add to cart’) as part of its push to reach younger consumers. The format allows viewers to buy the clothes, decor, and furniture that is seen on the show.

If you’re like us, when you studied math in school, you were constantly thinking ‘wow, this is hard.’ Unfortunately, for kids today, it seems that learning math has gotten even harder.  

Driving the news: Canadian math scores continued a long fall from grace, per the latest results from the OECD’s standardized math test. Between 2003 and 2022, overall scores declined by 35 points, with only 12% of students categorized as “high math achievers.”