Mind the Gap: She Trained Her Own Digital Replacement

[curious] Imagine this. It's a Monday morning in Shenzhen. A software engineer — let's call her exactly what MIT Technology Review calls her: an otherwise enthusiastic early adopter — sits down, opens her laptop, and begins the strangest task she's ever been assigned. [serious] She's training an AI agent to do her job. Not assisting one. Not supervising one. Literally teaching a digital copy of he...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [enthusiastic] See you tomorrow, everyone.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: The App That Predicts Your Expiration Date

[curious] So picture this — you're on the Queen streetcar, Monday morning coffee in hand, and you open a new app on your phone. Made right here in Toronto. You tap a button, answer a few questions, and it tells you... the date you're going to die. [amused] Not your horoscope. Not your step count. Your expiration date. Like you're a carton of milk....

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [warm] See you tomorrow, everybody.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: Pop the Champagne, Then Duck

[urgent] Friday afternoon, the Financial Post headline screamed — Strait of Hormuz reopening. Markets threw a party. Business Insider said, and I quote, the reopening 'sets the economy up to roar.' Oil traders popped champagne. [serious] That party lasted... about thirty-six hours. Because early this morning, the Financial Post reported, quote, 'Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz was at a near stand...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [warm] Mind the gap, friends. And mind the clock.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: The Robots Clocked In On Tuesday

[curious] Last Tuesday morning in Nanchang, China, a factory supervisor watched something she'd never seen before. A humanoid robot — smooth white chassis, about five foot eight — picked up a component, inspected it, rotated it ninety degrees, and slotted it into place. Three more robots did exactly the same thing... in perfect sync. [surprised] And here's the thing — they weren't prototypes. They...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [laughing] Mind the gap, everyone. Have a beautiful Saturday.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: The Ghost Who Got the Part

[hushed] Picture this. A director sits in a studio in Los Angeles, staring at a monitor. Val Kilmer — who passed away — appears on screen. Not archive footage. Not a deepfake. A full performance, generated in seven minutes. [quiet, moved] Seven minutes. That's less time than it takes to brew a proper pour-over. And the family gave their blessing....

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [bright] Mind the gap, friends.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: The AI Diagnosing You Was Trained Wrong

[serious] Somewhere in a hospital right now — maybe in Ontario, maybe in Ohio — a doctor is glancing at a screen. An AI model is telling them a patient has a fourteen percent chance of developing type two diabetes in the next five years. [concerned] And that number looks so precise. So clean. So... medical. Except — according to Nature — dozens of these disease-prediction models were trained on da...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [laughing] A hundred and twenty countries, Maya!

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: The Secret Census Floating Past Your Nose

[curious] So picture this — a researcher in a London park holds up what looks like a tiny vacuum cleaner filter. She peels it off, seals it in a tube, and ships it to the lab. Inside that filter? DNA from forty-seven different species. Birds, foxes, fungi, three types of bat... and also — humans. [surprised] Forty-seven species... from air. Just the air sitting right in front of her face. That fil...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [warm] And I'm Maya. See you tomorrow morning.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: Why Half The World Is Building Again

[curious] So picture this — it's Monday morning in Vancouver, and Ryan Holmes walks back into the Hootsuite offices. The company he founded. The company he left. He's interim CEO again, because the person who replaced him, Irina Novoselsky, just walked out the door. [amused] The founder boomerang. It's like showing up to your own surprise party... except nobody's surprised and the cake's half-eate...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [warm] See you tomorrow, everybody.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: Too Polished: When Humans Get Flagged As AI

[curious] Somewhere in Canada last month, a horror novelist hit send on a manuscript. Months of work. A book deal already signed. And then — an email lands. The publisher is pulling the book. [serious] Not because the story was bad. Not because the market shifted. Because someone decided it read too smoothly. Too polished. The accusation? AI wrote it....

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [warm] Mind the gap, friends.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.

Mind the Gap: Your Brain Is Already Running the Algorithm

[curious] A neuroscientist at Dartmouth asks a volunteer to close her eyes and picture an apple. Red, shiny, sitting on a white table. The fMRI lights up. Then they show her an actual photo of an apple — same red, same shine. And the scan... is essentially identical. [surprised] Same neural process. Seeing it. Imagining it. And here's what made the researchers stop cold — the pattern closely mirro...

In today's episode, Alex and Maya explore how Toronto's economy, AI's rapid evolution, and behavioural science intersect — and what it all means for how we live and work.

Takeaway: [laughing] That's either very comforting or deeply unsettling. Have a great Sunday, everybody.

New episodes drop every weekday morning.