Morning. In focus today, we look at how the global fight over artificial intelligence is hitting closer to home.
Up first
In the news
Energy: Alberta, Ottawa and top oil producers agree to advance the Pathways carbon capture project.
Mideast: The U.S. launched strikes on Iran hours after President Donald Trump vowed to reinstate an American blockade of Iranian ports. Iran responded with attacks on Middle East allies of the U.S.
Quebec: First Nation votes to reject a landmark hydro deal.
Economy: Higher rates possibly needed in “near term,” U.S. Fed’s Waller says.
Are you guys saying 'boo-lean'? Eric Schmidt at an event in Florida last November.Marco Bello/Reuters
In focus
How this man made grads so mad
The commencement address didn’t start off with booing. At first, the crowd of about 10,000 students were calm and attentive as Eric Schmidt reflected on his career and time as chief executive of Google.
Forty years in the business had given him plenty of perspective on the technological leaps that had reshaped the world either before these graduates were born or shortly thereafter: the arrival of the laptop, the internet, the smartphone.
What he hadn’t observed was a shift of energy in the crowd when he spoke about the role of social media in degrading the “public square.” This was a cohort that also spent their high-school years trapped inside by pandemic restrictions – keeping in touch on TikTok, Twitch, Instagram – but missing out on school sports, proms, parties.
To a crowd of people who had grown tired of living online – and which was now coming to terms with a labour market already killing entry-level labour – what Schmidt said next landed more like a threat than a reason to be optimistic.
“So today we stand on this edge of another technological transformation,” he said. “One that will be larger, faster, and more consequential than what came before. It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship you have.”
A smattering of boos grew loud enough to drown him out, and the incident became the highest-profile anti-AI backlash to hit institutions of higher learning across North America. University and college campuses, a crucible of humanity’s largest debates, became a measure of broader AI anxiety.
Data divide
To national reporter Joe Friesen, who spent years covering postsecondary education, this “clear, thumbs-down reaction” became even more striking when he dove into the generational differences in attitudes toward AI. Of all the demographics surveyed by Pew Research Center, people under 30 were both most likely to use AI chatbots and the most skeptical of them.
In the U.S., about 50 per cent of adults reported using a chatbot like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot in 2025 – up from 33 per cent the year before. There’s little reason to doubt these numbers are much different in Canada. “My text messages are now being summarized by AI before I even read them. I’m hearing from friends under pressure as AI transforms their work.”
As AI becomes more ubiquitous, it’s also becoming more polarizing. “It’s happening quickly, but not everyone is on board. I wanted to learn more about who they are and how they think.”
From the campus to the Vatican, Friesen reports, warning signs are flashing about a broader societal pushback against AI. In Canada, battles over data centres might be the most visible manifestations.
The work they do – provide the physical infrastructure to host, train and run generative AI, which learns patterns from massive amounts of existing data – requires enormous amounts of power to keep servers from melting down.
Local backlash has been growing against plans to build these facilities in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where the vast majority of new data centres are being planned.
The benefits of hosting data centres, such as the Meta’s recently announced $13-billion data centre in Sturgeon County, Alta., include new jobs and higher utility revenues. But a data centre of such enormity would require nearly three-quarters the amount of energy required for the entire city of Edmonton – a spike that could drive up costs for consumers and harm the environment, critics say.
Big war, bigger battles
Yesterday, more than 200 leading researchers and economists issued a joint statement warning that AI could drive a larger economic transformation than the Industrial Revolution in a “vastly shorter” period.
The signatories included 15 Nobel laureates and researchers at OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, calling for deeper research on AI’s economic impacts. The letter urged building policies and institutions to ensure the technology benefits society and to navigate risks such as large-scale job displacement.
Their letter was aimed at governments and technology leaders – respectively, neither the most agile institutions nor the most objective – but decisions have to be made somewhere. The war over who holds that power has largely being fought on a global stage.
Across North America, a third way is emerging: In the U.S., more than US$60-billion in data centre projects have been blocked or delayed by local campaigns, according to Data Center Watch. As Friesen reports, plans to build in Canada are being met with an increasing vocal opposition.
“It’s still very early in this phase of technological change so it’s not all clear how it will shake out,” Friesen said. “But it’s interesting to see these pockets of resistance forming, even as governments and businesses are encouraging AI adoption to boost productivity.”
Charted
Taking our shot
Canada’s three MLS clubs, Toronto FC, CF Montreal, and the Vancouver Whitecaps, are valued at US$730-million, US$430-million, and US$450 million, respectively, less than any NHL team but far in excess of any CFL franchise. The sport has surpassed hockey to become the most-played among youth, and has nearly one million registered players.
How can Canada ride the wave of a home World Cup and actually turn soccer into a lucrative venture?
Quoted
Not all screen time is the same – not even close, not even a little bit.
— Sara Grimes, McGill University researcher
Kids’ tablets aren’t the villain we have been told to fear.
Up next
More files we’re following
On Wall Street: Earnings from the big U.S. banks are expected to kick off another strong quarter for corporate America. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs report today.
On the field: Heading into the all-star break, things are not going as well as I’d hoped for the Blue Jays. Still plenty of baseball left to play.
Morning update
Global markets were mostly lower as escalating U.S.-Iran tensions spooked investors.
Wall Street futures were mixed as markets looked to key June inflation figures, while TSX futures were in the red.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.44 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.35 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.38 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.63 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.74 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.52 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 70.94 U.S. cents.