This newsletter is not AI; gag orders at the bank: CBC’s Marketplace cheat sheet | CBC News

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Would you signal a gag order to get compensation out of your financial institution?

Guanghu Cui was poring over his TD Bank statements in March, getting ready to pay taxes for his small immigration consulting agency in Oakville, Ont., when he observed a $1.50 price for sending an e-transfer.

It was shocking, as a result of when he’d opened his enterprise account three years in the past, his monetary advisor informed him the plan included 5 free transactions a month, and he’d by no means exceeded that quantity.

Cui complained. Eventually, TD stated it might reimburse him for the charges and compensate him for his “frustration and inconvenience.” 

But when the paperwork arrived for Cui to signal, it included a situation saying he should “keep it confidential.” While he may talk about the dispute, he would not be allowed to inform anybody that TD had supplied compensation. 

“I was really stunned, to be honest, because I didn’t do anything wrong,” stated Cui. “Why do you try to shut me up?”

Confidential contracts — often called non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs — had been initially created to guard commerce secrets and techniques or mental property, however have advanced into a standard software to silence individuals who have been wronged: financially, professionally or, in the case of sexual assault victims, bodily and mentally. 

After Go Public acquired concerned, TD apologized to Cui in a cellphone name that he recorded. 

A spokesperson stated Cui’s considerations had been “reviewed further” and that he now not needed to signal the NDA. When Cui questioned why TD was backtracking, the spokesperson stated the settlement was “purely for documenting.”

In an e mail to Go Public, a spokesperson stated the financial institution did not “believe that Mr. Cui should have been required to sign a Settlement and Release document in this matter.”

She would not say why he had been requested to signal the NDA in the first place and stated the expertise can be used as a “coaching opportunity.” Read More

Customers are fed up with anti-theft measures at shops

Susan Dennison lately had an unsettling expertise at her native grocery retailer, a Loblaw-owned Fortinos in Burlington, Ont.

Just as she was leaving, the wheels on her buying cart locked, immobilizing it.

She stated a retailer worker rushed over and demanded to see her receipt. 

“I felt like I was ambushed,” stated Dennison, who scrambled to seek out her invoice. “She’s badgering me, like, ‘Is it in your wallet? Is it in your pocket?'”

The carts are solely meant to lock if a buyer does one thing suspicious. But, in Dennison’s case, it turned on the market was a glitch. 

“Their methods need to catch the thieves, not honest customers,” she stated. 

Many customers have made related complaints as a number of main retailers beef up their anti-theft ways.

Along with wheel-locking buying carts, different contentious measures embrace metallic gates with designated entry and exit factors, random receipt checks and tall plexiglass obstacles, which lately popped up at many Loblaw shops. 

In response to clients’ complaints about its safety measures, Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocer, has repeatedly stated that organized crime is in charge.

“These are sophisticated organizations that are increasingly using violent tactics and complex networks to steal and sell stolen goods for profit,” Loblaw CFO Richard Dufresne stated throughout a convention name in late 2023.

Loblaw has not offered information to assist its declare. 

According to Statistics Canada, police-reported organized crime makes up solely a small portion of retail theft, and it has declined between 2018 and 2022. Read More

As AI will get extra human-like, consultants warn we should assume extra critically about its responses

“Oh stop it, you’re making me blush!” 

That was ChatGPT’s response when a researcher informed the chatbot he was in an excellent temper as a result of he was demonstrating “how useful and amazing you are.”

Both OpenAI and Google introduced upgrades to their synthetic intelligence (AI) applied sciences as a part of a push to make them quicker, and provides extra conversational responses.

“It feels like AI from the movies,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a weblog submit. “Talking to a computer has never felt really natural for me; now it does.”

But researchers in the know-how and synthetic intelligence sector warn that as folks get data from AI methods in additional user-friendly methods, in addition they must watch out to look at for inaccurate or deceptive responses to their queries.

And as a result of AI methods typically do not disclose how they got here to a conclusion, as a result of corporations need to shield the commerce secrets and techniques behind how they work, in addition they do not have a tendency to indicate as many uncooked outcomes or supply information as conventional serps.

This means they are often extra vulnerable to offering solutions that look or sound assured, even when they’re incorrect. Read More

Have you been duped by AI? Maybe what you obtain wasn’t what you bought, or a chatbot gave you mistaken data. We need to hear about it. Email us at marketplace@cbc.ca.

What else is happening?

Watch out, vinaigrette lovers: Olive oil prices have jumped again
On common, costs have elevated 25.6 per cent since January.

Frito-Lay Canada recalls 2 of its most popular snacks for possible salmonella contamination
Check your cabinets for Sunchips Harvest Cheddar Flavoured Multigrain Snacks, in addition to Munchies Original Snack Mix. 

Did you hold on to your pandemic meme stock? Roaring Kitty’s return caused it to surge
The man at the centre of the meme inventory craze appeared on-line for the first time in three years, sending the costs of three quirky and risky shares sharply increased Monday.

Marketplace wants your assist!

Have you noticed a wholesome declare on a product that was too good to be true? Maybe you’ve got seen a product that does not have an ingredient or well being profit it claims it does. Send us your “lousy labels” the subsequent time you store for groceries! marketplace@cbc.ca.

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