Carney unveils AI strategy, says tech will be built with safety, reliability, sovereignty in mind

Carney unveils AI strategy, says it prioritizes safety, reliability, sovereignty

Proposals include AI literacy, jobs for young Canadians, building supercomputer

Prime Minister Mark Carney officially unveiled Canada's long-awaited artificial intelligence strategy on Thursday.

Prime Minister Mark Carney officially unveiled Canada's long-awaited artificial intelligence strategy on Thursday, saying his government's approach will ensure the technology is built with safety, reliability and sovereignty in mind.

The details were first reported by CBC News earlier this week after it obtained a draft version of the document. The official strategy contains most of the information earlier reported, with minor changes.

"The question is not whether AI will transform our lives. It will," Carney said as he unveiled the strategy in Toronto. "The question is will it improve the lives of all Canadians or benefit only a few."

According to the official strategy, Canada aims to do the following, among other goals:

The strategy promises at least two billion dollars of new investments to achieve its aims.

In his remarks, the prime minister acknowledged that Canada has to "be honest about the risks AI poses to Canadians," including deepfakes, AI-generated disinformation and privacy concerns.

Carney also noted Canada "ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, literacy and trust."

The strategy highlights key actions Canada will take to address the issue, including modernizing consumer privacy legislation, introducing online safety laws, working on watermarking AI-generated content as well as a broader commitment to protecting elections and reviewing the Privacy Act.

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However, like the draft version of the strategy, there are no details on specific actions.

The federal government has previously said it's "very seriously" considering age restrictions for social media and AI chatbots, but no official decision has been made.

In a statement given to CBC News earlier in May, a spokesperson for Culture Minister Marc Miller said Ottawa "intends to act swiftly to better protect Canadians, especially children, from online harm."

"No decisions have been made and we will have more details to share in due course."

The strategy does highlight that Canada will invest $50 million to expand the capabilities of the Canadian AI Safety Institute to track risks, advance technical research and transparently evaluate AI models.

Plus, Canada will "create a Canada Trusted AI Certification program to help Canadians identify trustworthy AI products in the marketplace."

The strategy aims to get people learning about AI through a National Literacy Initiative, which will offer entry-level training meant to be accessible to all Canadians.

That content is intended to reach one million entry-level postsecondary students, and Ottawa also plans to train more than 3,000 educators with AI learning kits in the classroom.

There are also initiatives to help young people find employment as AI disrupts the job market. Ottawa plans to create up to 90,000 AI-related job opportunities through programs like the Student Work Placement Program and Canada Summer Jobs.

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Ottawa will also "assess training and upskill offerings for mid-career workers, including in skilled trades, to scale up employer-led training nationwide with a strong priority on AI-related skills."

The federal government projects that AI adoption can help create up to 250,000 new jobs by 2031.

Some Canadian groups are taking issue with the labour aspects of the strategy.

In a statement sent to CBC, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) argued it is "putting the profits of Big Tech billionaires ahead of workers and the public by soft-pedalling protections against the risks of AI."

In a technical briefing for reporters before the announcement, senior government officials were asked whether Ottawa has an estimate on how many jobs could be lost to AI. They did not provide one.

However, the officials said the government will continue to monitor potential job losses. The strategy notes Canada will use Statistics Canada's Artificial Intelligence and Technology Measurement Program to assess the impacts of AI.

That program, previously referred to as "TechStat," was allocated $25 million over six years in the last federal budget.

Scaling up AI adoption, Canadian champions

The AI strategy aims to increase Canada's business adoption from 12 per cent today to 60 per cent by 2034 through "boosting [small and medium-sized enterprises] and business adoption supports."

Key actions there include utilizing the Business Development Bank of Canada's LIFT program to help Canadian SMEs access financing to incorporate AI tools in their operations.

Plus, Ottawa will invest $500 million to expand and enhance its Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative, meant to help AI startups and growing firms scale up and address common challenges with AI adoption across critical sectors.

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It's also going to add $700 million to the AI Compute Access Fund.

The fund, which currently has a total budget of $300 million, supports projects with compute costs ranging from $100,000 to $5 million. AI Minister Evan Solomon announced the first round of winners earlier this month at Web Summit Vancouver.

The fund covers two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services, or half of eligible costs for non-Canadian equivalents. Solomon mentioned at the summit there had been a significant volume of applications for the fund.

Canada will also launch a new AI Missions Program for projects "that deliver significant public good and demonstrate meaningful improvements in Canadians’ lives." The first mission will commit $200 million to improve Canadians' health outcomes.

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As for scaling up top Canadian companies, the federal government is establishing a $500-million Canadian Tech Growth Fund, which would provide flexible capital and investment support and allow Ottawa to take equity stakes in "the most promising Canadian AI firms."

"This will help them attract private capital, compete globally, retain talent and intellectual property, and remain anchored in Canada," the strategy said.

Canada will also leverage its recently announced sovereign wealth fund "where appropriate" to further support Canadian champions, the strategy adds. The details of how the fund will work have still not been released.

Benjamin Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on X at @bensteven_s.