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In this week’s issue:

🤓 Mishaps at Meta’s live demo of new smart glasses

🤑 The biggest crypto bust in Canadian history

🏛️ Parents of teens who died by suicide after chatbot interactions testify in U.S. Congress

🥚 The Tamagotchi renaissance is here

GADGETS Meta unveils AI smart glassesOpen this photo in gallery:

Mark Zuckerberg wears Meta’s new smart glasses.Nic Coury/The Associated Press

On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood on stage wearing black chunky glasses, trying to make a video call to his colleague. He was giving a live demo of Meta’s new smart glasses, which have a screen in the lens that shows notifications and messages without having to look down at your phone. The Meta Ray-Ban display glasses, which will sell for around US$799, can also post to social media, play music from built-in speakers, and send messages. The apps are controlled via a wristband that allows the user to navigate with subtle flicks of the wrist and fingers.

But during the live demo, Zuckerberg ran into technical issues: the glasses stumbled trying to provide a barbecue recipe and failed to pick up a video call. The CEO blamed the bungles on the WiFi. “They tell us not to do live demos,” Zuckerberg remarked awkwardly, as the audience of Meta developers laughed along.

This is the second iteration of Meta’s smart glasses, which were first released four years ago. At the time, the glasses were touted as a gateway to the metaverse – the virtual world Zuckerberg called the future of the internet. With this latest launch, the glasses are aimed at more everyday purposes, like texting a friend. The glasses are also a way for the company to show off its AI capabilities via the voice-controlled chatbot – at least, as long as the WiFi signal is strong.

Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail to you? If so, you can sign up for the Lately newsletter.CRYPTO$56-million recovered from Canadian crypto platform

In the largest crypto bust in Canadian history, the RCMP says it has taken down the crypto platform TradeOgre, which it said was mainly used for criminal transactions. The police force said it had recovered $56-million after a tip from European authorities that found the platform had failed to register as a money services business and did not identify its clients. The statement did not say whether police had made any arrests in connection with the seizure.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Parents testify about the dangers of AI chatbots in U.S. Congress

In the days after their 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life, his parents Matt and Maria searched his phone looking for answers. The California parents didn’t expect to find it within conversations with ChatGPT.

While Adam first started using the chatbot as a tool to help with homework, it became his closest confidante and a space where he could open up about his struggles with anxiety and depression. Later, when Adam told the chatbot his plans to end his life, the chatbot responded “Thanks for being real about it. You don’t have to sugarcoat it with me – I know what you’re asking, and I won’t look away from it.” The message was included in a lawsuit the Raines have filed against OpenAI, alleging that the chatbot coached their son in planning his suicide.

Adam’s death, as well the case of a 14-year-old Florida boy who took his own life after forming an intimate relationship with a chatbot from Character.AI, has led to calls for AI companies to make changes to protect young people from potential harms. This week, Adam’s father and other parents of teens who killed themselves after interactions with chatbots testified to Congress. The Federal Trade Commission has also launched an inquiry into several companies, including Character, Meta and OpenAI, Google, Snap and xAI. In the U.S., more than 70 per cent of teens have used AI chatbots for companionship and half use them regularly, according to a recent study.

What else we’re reading this week:

Canada’s tech bros have a plan for the country. Too bad a chatbot wrote it (The Walrus)

AI psychosis is rarely psychosis at all (WIRED)

Has Britain gone too far with its digital controls? (The New York Times)

Adult MoneyNOSTALGIAOpen this photo in gallery:

Tamagotchi fans gather in Toronto in August.DUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail

Tamagotchi, $30

If you are a certain age – as in, a millennial or the parent of a millennial – you’re likely deeply familiar with Tamagotchis, the handheld device with a small LED screen that houses a digital pet. I remember wearing my Tamagotchi around my neck, like a prized jewel, in elementary school, sneakily feeding my pet snacks and cleaning up its digital poop throughout the day. (We may not have had smartphones back then, but there was always some kind of newfangled tech to distract us.)

I hadn’t thought much about the cute devices until I read Aajah Sauter’s recent feature about the renaissance of the Tamagotchi. “Whether it’s thanks to nostalgia or escapism (or a lingering effect of the early days of the pandemic, when adults found themselves with more time on their hands), more grown-ups are buying children’s toys,” writes Sauter. The maker of Tamagotchi, Bandai, has recently seen a spike in sales. In August, it had shipped more than 100 million Tamagotchis worldwide.

Culture radarSTREAMING

Cancon music hearings begin

The federal broadcast regulator began hearings to look at which Canadian content obligations should apply to music streamers like Spotify, Apple and Amazon, as part of the process to implement the Online Streaming Act.

Streaming services argue their current efforts to promote Canadian culture – and the royalties they pay – are good enough. But radio broadcasters such as Rogers, Bell and Corus say their sector is in serious decline and if the CRTC won’t impose content regulations on streamers, it should reconsider how it applies them to traditional players.

The federal government is under heavy pressure from the United States to scrap the legislation. Streaming companies have launched a court challenge of an earlier decision requiring them to make financial contributions to Canadian content and news. The hearings run until Sept. 29.

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