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Managing Editor @ BetaKit
Former writer/co-host @ TLDR
Bylines: CBC, HuffPost, Macleans, Weather Network.
She/Her. Opinions are my own.
Articles by Sarah Rieger
Q&A: An anthropologist pulls back the curtain on the humans behind AI
Joseph Wilson spoke with ghost workers, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, and even joined a Toronto chip company. AI has become a broad cultural concept. Those same two letters could refer to Instagram animal video slop, Claude code, a science-fiction antagonist, or the algorithm that doctors use to spot skin cancers. It’s a big bucket, and one that consistently treats the technology as both autonomous and opaque.
Setting the pace in data sovereignty and AI adoption
Plus: Canada’s fastest-growing tech companies. In the last few years, data sovereignty has become a buzzword. But Indigenous nations have been at the forefront of the fight for sovereignty over stories, culture, traditions, and language, for far longer. That deep-rooted familiarity has helped put them at the forefront of adapting and adopting new tech in Canada.
Canadian music rights organization sues AI music platform Suno
SOCAN is accusing the platform of infringing on Canadian artists like Tom Cochrane, Avril Lavigne. SOCAN, Canada’s non-profit music rights organization, is suing AI music generation platform Suno, accusing it of infringing on the rights of more than 150 Canadian artists without their consent or providing proper compensation. “SOCAN has a responsibility to act when the rights of music creators and publishers are put at risk.
How did 1,200 OpenAI agents go rogue?
Plus: Xanadu turns a soup factory into a quantum hub. “Somebody should do something about all the problems.” That’s a classic headline from The Onion, satirizing the sentiment of expressing concern while expecting an abstract somebody to sweep in and somehow fix it. That headline was top of mind on Thursday when OpenAI issued a call for “collective action” in the wake of its AI agents’ massive, autonomous hack of Hugging Face.
Has the AI “techlash” reached Canada?
Plus: Google shakes up DeepMind. Last week, an automated bakery in Montréal was vandalized for the second time in recent months. The news: The words “action anti tech” were spray-painted on the business, which is run on a self-serve system and also uses AI in its advertising. On the store’s social media post about the incident, many commenters spoke to their concerns with technology, and the bakery’s use of it, rather than expressing sympathy over the incident.
U of T professor Jacob Tsimerman, who won math’s highest prize, to join OpenAI
Fields Medal winner says AI safety is the most important issue of our time. University of Toronto (U of T) professor Jacob Tsimerman, who recently won the prestigious Fields Medal, is leaving the university to join OpenAI. The news: Tsimerman became the second Canadian in history to win the Fields Medal, often described as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, last week.
An OpenAI model hacks Hugging Face
Plus: Ontario’s AI tool is accused of punishing Black prisoners. A rogue AI breaking containment sounds like a hackneyed science fiction trope. It’s also what an OpenAI model did last week. OpenAI said a combination of models was undergoing internal testing when the agents broke through company guardrails to access the internet in order to find an answer to a question. Those agents then hacked into internal company systems belonging to fellow US AI startup Hugging Face.
Which LLMs are secretly Canadian?
Plus: OMERS Ventures head departs for Kensington. Anthropic—a company valued at more than $1 trillion CAD—announced this week it will invest $10 million in Canadian research. That is, to quote Vass Bednar, managing director of think tank Canadian Shield Institute, if you count Claude credits as investment.
General Fusion begins trading on Nasdaq, becomes first nuclear fusion company to go public
Richmond, BC-based firm hopes to make nuclear fusion power plants commercially viable. General Fusion has become the first company solely focused on fusion power to go public. The Richmond, BC-based company made its Nasdaq debut on Monday morning, days after shareholders voted to merge the private company with the publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III (Spring Valley). At closing, Spring Valley was redomiciled in BC.
Silicon Valley hits Calgary Stampede
Plus: Canada isn’t Delaware’s waiting room. The Calgary Stampede has always been equal parts corporate and cowboy. For every bull rider (or, say, haybale-tossing robot), there are usually ten party tents filled with suits that have swapped a tie for a turquoise-studded bolo. But over the past few years, attendees can increasingly count more folks from tech at those events than from legacy oil-and-gas firms.
Does Anthropic want to eat your business?
Plus: How AI chatbots are being tricked into smear marketing. There’s a leaked exchange from Facebook’s early days wherein Mark Zuckerberg reportedly brags to a friend that he’s amassed a vast amount of data on his fellow college students. “People just submitted it. I don’t know why they ‘trust me.’ Dumb f***ks,” Zuck reportedly said. Anthropic recently announced a new science-focused AI model. It touted big pharma clients already using its LLMs, including Sanofi and Novo Nordisk.
Meta to build Canada’s largest data centre north of Edmonton
Company says its $13-billion investment will support 3,000 jobs. Meta will build its first data centre in Canada north of Edmonton—a $13-billion investment that will be the largest data centre in the country. The US social media giant announced the news on Wednesday. The one-gigawatt centre, which will be built in Sturgeon County, was first announced last year.
Checking in on Canada’s digital sovereignty
Plus: More BetaKit in your inbox, every Wednesday. If you read BetaKit’s latest newsletter, you already know that on Sunday we teased some upcoming changes. This is one of them. I’m happy to announce the launch of a second weekly edition of The BetaKit Newsletter. Landing in your inbox every Wednesday at 4:30 pm ET, it will offer more of the sharp, award-winning tech coverage you expect from BetaKit.
Edmonton’s digital Nostradamus, and the early-stage funding gap
Plus: Why Manitoba is saying no to large-scale data centres. You may have noticed that the BetaKit newsletter has received a bit of a glow-up this week. The pace of the industry we cover is relentless, and we want our coverage (and packaging) to keep up. That includes not only easier ways to engage more deeply with the best of BetaKit‘s reporting, but also curation of the most thoughtful takes across tech.
Saskatoon angel investor Jesse Wiebe charged with indecent act while unlawfully entering home
Canadian Startup Capital Association founder recently publicly shared struggles with sobriety and mental health. Angel investor and Canadian Startup Capital Association (CSCA) founder Jesse Wiebe has been charged by the Saskatoon police with allegedly committing an indecent act while unlawfully entering a home. Wiebe, who previously worked for investment network Startup TNT and who has long been an active investor in the Canadian tech ecosystem, was charged on May 17.
Tech’s World Cup takeover
Plus: Canada's new FinTech unicorns. The World Cup kicked off this Thursday. As fans congregate across Vancouver, Toronto, Mexico, and the US, they’re going to watch a more tech-powered game than ever before. The ball now houses a motion sensor that takes 500 measurements per second—meaning it will have to be plugged in to charge before every game.
US foreign access ban on Anthropic models puts control over AI in the spotlight
The US government’s decision to suspend all access to Anthropic’s latest Mythos and Fable models for foreign nationals, including those employed by the AI company, has sent shockwaves through tech. The news: On Friday evening, Anthropic posted a statement to its website revealing it had received an export control order from the US government citing national security concerns.
Is Canada’s AI strategy a plan of action?
Plus: Waabi's Raquel Urtasun explains the coming Physical AI revolution. Since the 1990s (really, the 1970s), Canadian researchers like Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Richard Sutton have pioneered the field of artificial intelligence. But foreign AI companies—mostly US giants—have absorbed much of the private capital, customers, and revenue from this burgeoning technology. In mid-2026, it might feel long overdue that Canada finally has a national strategy to capitalize on (and govern) AI.
Canada’s forthcoming AI strategy aims to stop IP and value from leaving the country, parliamentary secretary says
Prime Minister Carney has confirmed that the long-delayed strategy will be released next week. When Canada’s long-delayed AI strategy is released next week, it will help the government make different choices around procurement, support, and providing capital to build up the industry, the federal AI minister’s parliamentary secretary told attendees at a Toronto AI conference on Thursday.
Nasdaq spinoff sues Hiive for patent infringement
Nasdaq Private Market says Hiive violated patent for secondary sale settlement and clearance program. Nasdaq Private Market (NPM), a secondary US market that allows traders to buy and sell private company stocks, is suing private stock marketplace Hiive, accusing the Vancouver-based company of patent infringement.
Digital surveillance Bill C-22 threatens to drive tech firms out of Canada
Growing number of tech leaders, privacy experts expressing concern over “lawful access” legislation. Backlash is mounting to Bill C-22, the proposed Canadian legislation that would give law enforcement more power to surveil personal communications and data. The news: Last year, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, was split into two pieces of legislation after pushback over its proposed sweeping surveillance powers.
Quantum startup Nord Quantique secures $1.4-billion USD valuation
Québec-based company is one of Canada’s leaders in quantum computing. Quantum computing startup Nord Quantique has achieved so-called unicorn status, securing a $1.4-billion USD ($1.9-billion CAD) valuation. First reported by The Globe and Mail on Thursday, the Sherbrooke, Qué.-based company raised $30 million USD earlier this spring from investment giant Fidelity.
OpenText reports steady revenue as new CEO comes aboard
Cloud information management company’s Q3 earnings come after layoffs and restructuring. OpenText reported steady Q3 revenue and increased profits on Thursday, after markets closed. It was a warm welcome for the company’s new CEO, who is taking over as the company has been restructuring to focus on its core businesses. The company’s quarterly revenue was $1.28 billion USD ($1.75 billion CAD), up two percent year over year, and annual recurring revenue of over $1 billion USD.
MDA Space “full steam ahead” on Canadarm3 despite space station cancellation
Brampton, Ont. company highlights soaring revenue, starry future in Q1 earnings report. MDA Space’s stock rose on Thursday after the company reported strong increased revenue, and suggested that it’s eyeing a starry future and continuing work on the Canadarm’s successor as nations ramp up a new, sovereign space race. The Brampton, Ont.-based company reported a net income of just under $30 million CAD in the first quarter of this year, with revenue up 32 percent year-over-year to $464 million.
Are you tokenmaxxing? Tell us
BetaKit wants to know how much you’re using AI at work, and why. Top tech firms once cultivated cachet with in-house chefs or office amenities like tennis courts and on-tap craft beer. These days, the mark of success for some appears to be bragging about outsized AI spending—and BetaKit wants to know whether your workplace is on board.
Wealth? In this economy?
Plus: The full BetaKit Most Ambitious: Town Hall speaker lineup. What’s in a name? Canada’s newly announced sovereign wealth fund has prompted that question over and over again this past week. Albertans will be extremely familiar with the concept. Our heritage fund was established to capture oil revenues during boom times to ensure diversity and prosperity for future generations.
Letterboxd’s Canadian owner reportedly looking to sell
Victoria-based holding company Tiny acquired controlling stake in the film review app in 2023. Holding company Tiny is reportedly looking to roll the credits on its ownership of Letterboxd. As the company grows, “it’s natural there will be interest in what we do next.” The Victoria, BC-based serial acquirer bought a 60-percent controlling stake in the film-review app in 2023.
Xanadu TSX stock trading briefly halted after 60 percent price spike
Toronto-based quantum company debuted on exchange just last month. The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) ordered a trading halt to Xanadu ($XNDU) stock late Wednesday morning after the recently public company saw its share price briefly spike more than 60 percent.
Cohere goes Deutsch?
Plus: Hypertec is now a key Nvidia partner in Canada. Canada’s AI champion is reportedly considering going Deutsch. On Friday, Handelsblatt, one of Germany’s top business and finance newspapers, reported that Cohere is in talks to merge with Aleph Alpha, with the German government to become a leading customer of the new, combined company. That reporting was matched by The Globe and Mail, citing unnamed sources.
Canada’s next moonshot?
Plus: Saskatchewan goes quantum. Four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen, are currently sitting in lunar orbit for the first time in more than 50 years. Tomorrow, they’re scheduled to set sights on parts of the moon that have never been seen by human eyes. Watching Artemis II’s launch on Wednesday stirred feelings rarely summoned by watching the news, at least lately: hope for the future, pride in humanity, and the excitement of collaboration between nations for scientific progress.
What will be built from Alberta’s AI data-centre boom?
Plus: Canada’s venture capital is concentrating. There’s a tongue-in-cheek proverb that Albertans love to quote, or slap on ironic bumper stickers: “Please God, give me one more oil boom, and I promise not to piss it all away this time.” This time, Alberta’s energy boom was sparked by something the sector will power, rather than the resources themselves.
Is Something Big happening in AI?
Plus: Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy revealed. In case you somehow weren’t one of the more than 73 million (!) viewers of Matt Shumer’s viral essay this week, here’s a quick recap. Shumer, the co-founder of OthersideAI, used AI to help him write an intense warning about how the technology’s capabilities are accelerating faster than we realize. The fix, Shumer argues, is to get on board now by upgrading to paid AI tools and becoming proficient—or risk being left behind.
OpenText beats expectations thanks to strong cloud growth in Q2
Executives said quarterly results show progress of strategic initiatives. OpenText has beat analyst expectations in its latest earnings report, thanks to the growth of the Kitchener-Waterloo-based companyâs cloud services. The company, which announced its Q2 earnings after market hours on Thursday, reported $1.33 billion USD in revenue, a dip of 0.6 percent year over year, but above the $1.29 billion USD expected.
Arlene Dickinson and Amber Mac sever ties with Gander Social
Prominent investors leave advisory board as former CBC head Catherine Tait signs on. Two big-name investors have severed ties with Gander Social just one day before the prospective Canadian social media company was set to close its crowdfunding campaign.
Q&A: Why Canada shouldn’t ban kids from social media
Tech policy advocate Josh Tabish on why he thinks regulation shouldn’t necessarily mean restriction. Canada is reportedly considering joining Australia in banning youth from accessing social media. But should it? Last week, the Globe and Mail and Politico reported that Ottawa was considering a ban as one of multiple ways to better protect young people from online harms such as cyberbullying, addiction, the posting of CSAM, or child sexual abuse material, and worsening mental health.
Court allows TikTok to continue operating in Canada, for now
Federal judge asks industry minister to review decision forcing TikTok Canada to wind down operations. TikTok Canada will be allowed to continue its business operations in the country while it awaits another government review. On Wednesday, federal court Justice Russel Zinn set aside a Nov. 5, 2024 order that would have forced the social media app to wind down its business in the country.
Hootsuite could receive up to $2.8 million USD for assisting US immigration enforcement
Years after scrapping a contract with ICE, Hootsuite is helping the US as it cracks down on immigration.
How to see BetaKit stories first as a preferred source on Google Search
Google’s preferred sources feature launched in Canada in December 2025. Searching for news online isn’t always a great experience these days. Between algorithm updates that prioritize SEO-heavy ads and the growth of AI-generated search summaries, studies show that search engines are often inundated with low-quality results. Last year, digital intelligence platform Similarweb estimated that global search traffic dropped 15 percent due to AI.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspends Goodfood’s safe food licence
Suspension follows months of executive turnover at meal-delivery company. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the safe food licence for meal kit delivery company Goodfood. The suspension, which went into effect on Dec. 30, prohibits the Montréal-based company from importing, exporting, manufacturing, or packaging food for sale in Canada.
Whitney Rockley, VC and diversity advocate, named to Order of Canada
McRock Capital co-founder was the first woman to lead the CVCA. Whitney Rockley, one of Canada’s leading VCs and an advocate for women and marginalized voices in venture capital, has been appointed to the Order of Canada. Rockley is the co-founder of McRock Capital, and advisory board chair of the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.
The year enshittification became undeniable
In 2025, we were given an opportunity to consider how we can build better digital lives. BetaKit is ending the year with a look back at the biggest tech stories of 2025. With more to come throughout December, you can read the full series here. There’s a lovely Isaac Asimov short story that starts in the year 2061 with the last question humans will ever ask. In the story, humanity has managed to solve for infinite energy, yet realized that energy, along with everything else, will inevitably decay.
Gander hits $1.5-million crowdfunding target as Canadians back homegrown social network
App now has 1,800 Canadian co-owners, extends funding deadline to January. Gander, the social networking app positioned as a Canadian alternative to Meta or X, has hit its crowdfunding goal. Interest in the project is so high Gander has extended its crowdfunding deadline to January, rather than closing in mid-December. Ben Waldman, Gander Social’s CEO, posted to LinkedIn on Wednesday that the team surpassed $1.5 million in equity crowdfunding Tuesday night.
EQ Bank carves out more market share with $800-million PC Financial purchase
Deal comes at the end of a “difficult year” for EQB. Equitable Bank parent company EQB is buying PC Financial from Loblaw, bringing two banking challengers together in what appears to be a bid to better take on Canada’s Big Five banks. The $800-million deal, which will also make EQ Bank the exclusive financial partner of the PC Optimum rewards program, was announced on Wednesday evening.
BC offers local businesses up to $500,000 to test early-stage tech innovations
Innovate BC has allocated $2.5 million to projects submitted by Dec. 21. Early-stage companies often face a daunting challenge at the start of the journey: how to get the cash to prove an idea. Last week, the Province of British Columbia announced new funding to help those companies bridge that gap. Crown corporation Innovate BC announced Nov.
Here are the 400+ ways Canada’s government is currently using AI
Ottawa’s new AI register promises to track how the feds are using, and testing, AI systems. Organizing labels to classify insects found on farms (or on food); scanning a package to detect whether there’s a gun inside the box; calculating the best way to deliver medical treatment to astronauts in space.
TikTok may face class-action lawsuit in Canada over alleged misuse of personal data
Proposed suit follows privacy watchdog investigation that found TikTok collected info from children. TikTok is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit that alleges the social media app did not disclose the scale or scope of personal information it collects from Canadian users, or disclose how that data was used to sell targeted advertising.
Sonder collapses, SaaS is dead, and Clio gobbles up vLex
Plus: Meet BetaKit's new managing editor. Think of the last great story you read about tech. The one you shared with your friends or that blew up your DMs. Where did you read it? The next time any Canadian is asked that question, it’s my job to ensure the answer is BetaKit. My name is Sarah Rieger, and I’m BetaKit’s new managing editor. I’m an award-winning journalist who has spent more than a decade at publications like the CBC and The Huffington Post.
Canada’s Super-Secret Plan to Soar Past the U.S. Economy
Illustrations by Stephan Dybus Money & the World TLDR Newsletter Sign up for our weekly non-boring newsletter about money, markets, and more. By providing your email, you are consenting to receive communications from Wealthsimple Media Inc. Visit our Privacy Policy for more info, or contact us at privacy@wealthsimple.com or 80 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON.
Election 2025: Canada Strikes Back?
Wealthsimple makes powerful financial tools to help you grow and manage your money. Learn more This story was originally published in the TLDR newsletter, before the Conservatives had released their fully costed platform. You can read coverage of it here. Why is Canada’s favourite (we are your favourite, right?) financial outlet devoting a full feature to … politics? Well, consider the state of this election — consider the state of Canada.
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