N.S. premier's office scolds professor over AI data centre comments

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is doubling down on a complaint his office sent to a university professor in Toronto who commented on a proposed artificial intelligence data centre. A staffer from Houston’s office sent the complaint last week, emailing a copy of the message to a CBC News reporter and the chair of the professor’s department. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Premier Tim Houston said he’s glad his communication adviser sent the critical email. “I’m happy he sent that message to provide some additional information to somebody who was clearly lacking in information but yet speaking as an expert,” Houston said. The feedback came after Sibo Chen, an associate professor of communication at Toronto Metropolitan University, gave a media interview to CBC saying that public concerns about the data centre project over water usage and electricity rate hikes were valid.