OpenAI’s AI Agent Phone Could Arrive by 2027 Says Kuo
According to a new update from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, OpenAI is shifting into high gear with its plans to release a dedicated AI agent phone.
ArriveCAN App Causing Delays, Border Agents Have Become Tech Support: Union
According to a report by Q107, the union that represents Canada’s border agents is claiming that some key statistics offered by the government in support of its use of the ArriveCAN app are “absolutely false.”
ArriveCAN, which made its debut in April 2020, became mandatory for all travellers entering Canada in November of that year. The app collects vaccine status and personal information which can then be used by health officials to monitor compliance with government orders related to COVID-19.
Speaking to a House of Commons committee on Wednesday, the Customs and Immigration Union president Mark Weber said that the number of people who successfully complete the ArriveCAN app prior to arriving at the border is much lower than the claims made by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA):
“What I can tell you is that the numbers that were provided to you by the CBSA – where it said that 99 percent of air travellers and 94 percent of land travellers have the app completed – is absolutely false,” Weber said.
“As far as border officers are concerned, the last few months have shown that ArriveCAN neither facilitates cross-border travel nor does it improve operational efficiency. In fact, it does exactly the opposite.”
“Our officers now largely work as IT consultants,” said Weber to the committee. “You have land borders that have essentially become parking lots for us to help people complete the app.” Instead of protecting our borders, agents instead are spending their time on tech support for the ArriveCAN app.
The ArriveCAN app has also been repeatedly called out by travellers and the airline industry since its release as a source of confusion and delays at Canadian airports and land border crossings.
Earlier today, we reported COVID Alert was finally discontinued by the federal government, with the project costing $21 million.
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Liberal efficiency
There are multiple reports of long lines at airports around the world. This is not a uniquely Canadian issue. ArriveCAN is only part of our problem. Travellers SHOULD educate themselves on the entry requirements prior to travel, but the government and airlines could certainly make the process a little easier.
I’m sure it’s happening in a lot of places, but it seems to be uniquely bad in Canada. My coworkers and friends are starting to travel a lot more and I’m hearing pretty positive things about other major centres. Pearson is a shiitshow.
One of the most significant bottlenecks in Canada, which the press doesn’t really cover, is the lack of staff. Many were furloughed or laid off or suspended for not following mandates. The man in reason the feds are lifting some mandates, well behind other countries, is to allow more staff to hired and re-hired.
ArriveCAN and other requirements are simply aggravating the staffing shortage. Who knew giving more work to fewer people would cause slowdowns…
Coming back from Mexico I thought I had completed the Arrive Can app. Apparently not. It wasn’t obvious but there was another section to fill out. Making that other section more obvious would have helped. However, it wasn’t a big deal. We just had to go another section, chatted with a dude for a couple of minutes and were on our way.
Sorry, but I think this is ridiculous. ArriveCAN is so easy to complete. After the first time I did it for my family when we travelled to the UK in March, all the information for my family members was saved. Since then, we’ve travelled a few more times and all I had to do is check their names and their info is automatically loaded. Takes far less time to complete ArriveCAN than it does going thru security. And that’s after getting to the front of the long security lines. Anyone who is complaining about having to do it really needs to give their head a shake. You’re doing a lot of things that are far more complex when travelling. ArriveCAN is easy.
The only improvements I would ask for is for the app to not require us to login every single time. It would be great if the app could just save my account login. And at the road border, it would be nice if there was more signage with a reminder to submit the ArriveCAN before I get up to the border agent. I’ve made that mistake once and got sent to secondary but then as soon as I did the ArriveCAN declaration, they sent me on. Other than that, this thing is super easy.