This week, one of AI’s biggest questions landed very close to home. Oakville became the first Ontario municipality to pause new data-centre development for a year while it studies the potential effects on electricity, water, the environment and nearby neighbourhoods.
Those are exactly the questions we should ask. But Oakville also has something the industry wants — and that gives us leverage. I’m not convinced that “not yet” was the strongest first answer.
And because it’s still summer, I’m resurfacing two lighter favourites: one for your late-August soundtrack and one for anyone ready to finally try ChatGPT.
What this is
TechCurious This Week is a short bi-weekly briefing on AI: how it can help you, what it means for your life and what, if anything, to do about it. Three stories or ideas, decoded, with my honest read.
1. Oakville said no first. What if we had said “yes, if”?
Oakville has become the first Ontario municipality to pause new data-centre development for a year. No formal application has been submitted, but reports of interest in a large AI facility near Ninth Line have raised legitimate questions about electricity, water, noise, emissions and how many permanent jobs a project would actually create.
Oakville is right to demand evidence.
“Trust us” is not a planning strategy.
But Oakville also has something the industry wants: employment land near major electrical infrastructure, access to the QEW and 400-series highways, proximity to Toronto and a highly educated regional workforce. Those advantages give us leverage to negotiate—not just manage impacts.
A serious “yes, if” could require the developer to pay its infrastructure costs, use low-water cooling, meet measurable energy and noise standards, create local training and apprenticeship opportunities, invest directly in the community and explore useful applications for its waste heat.
That is not automatic approval. If the project cannot meet Oakville’s conditions, the answer can still be no.
A pause is not neutral.
My view is that Oakville should use this year to build Ontario’s clearest and most demanding “yes, if” framework—then invite the proponent to meet it. I’ve written a fuller piece about what Oakville could gain, what it should protect and what other communities have successfully negotiated.
Read the full piece → [ADD LIVE BLOG LINK]
2. It’s not too late to make your summer playlist
There is still time for a road trip, patio dinner or kitchen dance party. Spotify’s AI tools let you describe the era, occasion and energy you want instead of assembling a playlist one song at a time.
Try:
Build me a two-hour playlist for a late-August patio dinner with old friends. Mix 70s and 80s favourites with 90s songs we’ll know every word to and a few newer women artists. Upbeat but not frantic. Let it get more danceable as the evening goes on.
I Used to Make Mixtapes. Now I Just Talk to Spotify explains prompted playlists, Spotify’s AI DJ and how to find music and podcasts you didn’t know existed.
Your assignment: make one playlist before summer disappears.
3. Curious about ChatGPT? Start here.
If ChatGPT is still something you hear other people discussing, here’s a place to start. You don’t need a course or technical background. Give it one real, low-stakes problem: plan dinner from what is in the fridge, compare two travel options, shorten an email or explain something confusing.
Then respond to its answer. Tell it what is missing and what you want changed. Using ChatGPT is less like entering a perfect search term and more like working through an idea with a very fast assistant.
ChatGPT for Beginners is my practical guide for the curious-but-unsure. Choose one example and try it. You can begin in ten minutes.
That’s this week’s edition: ask what Oakville could gain as well as what it must protect, give the rest of summer a soundtrack and take one small step into ChatGPT.
Consider it decoded.
— Amanda