Building a Better “BlackBerry” & Government Dating Apps

Amber Mac (0:03)

Welcome to The Amber Mac Show. On this week's episode, we talk with the co-founder of a company that is building what CrackBerry Kevin calls the best BlackBerry never built.

Jeff MacArthur (0:13)

And speaking of building things, we also talk with Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources about what Canada must do to turn its resources in the ground into mines, processing, investment and greater sovereignty. But before we get to those interviews, let's unpack this week's headlines on Superintelligence, E-Bikes and more.

Amber Mac (0:32)

Headlines.

Jeff MacArthur (0:34)

Both Canada and the US have launched new AI councils lately with America's super intelligence force intended to, as a Trump social media post declares, quote, ensure that America continues to lead the world in super intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution and the internet, and will protect the interests and improve the lives of all Americans, end quote. The government task force will be led by Trump's Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, with other members including the FTC Chairman, the Pentagon's Chief Technology Officer, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, for some strange reason, and others, and it's supposed to produce a report assessing risks and opportunities posed by AI and recommendations on what role government should play within 120 days.

Unfortunately, that role apparently won't include regulating AI given that Trump had top AI executives at the White House in the days prior to this announcement to sign an agreement for self-pleasing AI advancements in safety, something that Bill Gates recently commented on by saying, quote, part of the reason I'm speaking so loudly, as loud as I can, is that you can't rely on the industry to self-regulate here. I mean, it's just insane, end quote.

Amber Mac (1:51)

I think Gates is definitely on to something here. I have to say, I do love this era of unfiltered Bill Gates. It's kind of fun.

Back here in Canada, Prime Minister Carney announced our National Council on Artificial Intelligence to inform and advise the government on how to most effectively deploy AI in Canada, how to manage the risks, seize the opportunities, and ensure AI is used to improve the lives of all Canadians. Jeff, the council includes AI godfather, Joshua Benjio, Mila President and CEO, Valerie Pisano, former NVIDIA lab leader, Sanja Fiddler, and others. I think it's fair to say when you look at both of these councils, it's really striking to see how the Canadian AI Council is composed of, well, a lot of AI experts, while the American super intelligence force seems to be balanced more towards vaguely political figures.

Jeff MacArthur (2:44)

Yeah.

I'm sure Trump wouldn't want the insights and knowledge of people who really understood AI to get in the way of what he wants to do anyway. So that kind of seems par for the course. That said, something that is promising, although it really depends on its implementation and how it evolves, is the new America.gov website, which aims to use AI to help citizens navigate federal government information and services.

I think this is a totally solid idea and one that Canada would also be well served by. That said, I don't think Trump is helping with its promotion when he says things like, quote, it's the ultimate product. It's called America when you think about it. With America.gov, the federal government no longer stands in your way, and it stands only at your service. And that's what we're doing. We're simplifying it. We're glamorizing it.

Amber Mac (3:34)

What a weird word to use. I don't think glamorization is really the point there, but I agree that something like that could work in Canada. In the US instance, the site is also supposed to allow users to complete forms, applications and renewals by early 2027

So if it works well, then it certainly could be beneficial in terms of speeding up processes that can often be slower than citizens would like. And governments around the world right now are trying to use Clicks technology for a number of different reasons. But a new trend in Asia is seeing national and municipal governments releasing a different online service, namely digital dating platforms.

Jeff MacArthur (4:12)

Yeah, that's kind of wild, eh? So these government apps have been released in Singapore and Japan and South Korea, and the motivation is to try to combat the demographic challenges happening in these countries, specifically relative to birth rates.

So the replacement fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman. All three of those countries have rates far below this. It's 1.14 in Japan, 0.87 in Singapore, and 0.8 in South Korea, which is kind of stunning and definitely an issue. So to date, pardon the pun, I guess, the Tokyo-based government app Enmusubi had registered 17,000 members and produced 835 couples in serious relationships and 316 marriages, while the Singapore First Aid app just closed applications on its October 5th for its current pilot, so we'll see how that one goes.