The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy examines how media and emerging technologies shape democracy.
The rapidly shifting digital landscape is reshaping our society, our economy, and our democracy. The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy (CMTD) at McGill University is an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to understanding and responding to the social, political, and policy challenges posed by our evolving information ecosystem and digital technologies.
Canadians Don't Trust AI. Here's How to Fix That.
Canada's government wants Canadians to adopt artificial intelligence, but many remain deeply skeptical. Taylor Owen (Founding Director of the Centre) explores the growing gap between public trust and government ambition on AI—and what it will take to close it.
You can read Taylor Owen's full AI Task Force memo on governance, safety and trust here.
Latest Research
As Canada debates Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy (CMTD) is releasing four studies exploring some of the legislation's most consequential questions: How should platforms protect young users? What role should age verification play? And how should AI chatbot products be governed within an online safety framework?
The studies draw on research conducted by CMTD and the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), combining original public opinion data, comparative policy analysis, and technical audits of digital products. Together, the publications provide evidence to inform parliamentary and public debate on the future of online safety regulation in Canada.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Machines Like Us is a technology show about people.
We are living in an age of breakthroughs propelled by advances in artificial intelligence. Technologies that were once the realm of science fiction will become our reality: robot best friends, bespoke gene editing, brain implants that make us smarter.
Every other Tuesday Taylor Owen sits down with the people shaping this rapidly approaching future. He’ll speak with entrepreneurs building world-changing technologies, lawmakers trying to ensure they’re safe, and journalists and scholars working to understand how they’re transforming our lives.
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We gave children the most powerful tools in human history. Then, we left them to their own devices.
When she was 12 years old, Ava Smithing spiraled down a social media rabbit hole that nearly cost her life. A decade later, she discovered she wasn't alone: Big Tech had rewritten childhood and adolescence for her entire generation. Armed with questions and a year to find answers, Ava embarked on a cross-continent investigation into a hidden digital world. She met teens in 12-step programs for social media addiction, young girls wrestling with compulsive porn use, and boys who had been blackmailed by international cybercriminals.
This isn't a self-help guide to digital wellness. It's a survival story from the front lines of 21st century childhood: where young people are re-writing the playbook for what it means to be human in a hyperconnected world.
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When the pandemic hit in 2020, it suddenly seemed like conspiracy theories were everywhere. And a recent poll found that 1 in 4 Canadians believe in online conspiracy theories. We’re no longer just living in different information bubbles. We’re living in different realities. On this season of Screen Time, Taylor Owen and Supriya Dwivedi dive into the murky world of online conspiracy theories and misinformation, trying and understand how we got there – and how we might bring us back.
