As Carney releases his government AI strategy, Conservatives, NDP warn it misses the mark for nervous Canadians

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OTTAWA — As Prime Minister Mark Carney stood Thursday at the Toronto General Hospital announcing his government’s long-awaited strategy on artificial intelligence, he touted the institution’s history as being home to the world’s first lung transplant.

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That legacy, he said, showed the possibility of what can happen “when good people harness new technologies and deploy them with the right purpose.”

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Such was the call to action the prime minister delivered for his government’s new AI strategy, a 50-page document released on Thursday outlining how the Liberals’ planned approach to the nascent technology, from sovereignty and safety, to building out AI data centre and jobs.

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The plan itself emphasizes thousands of new job possibilities from more widespread adoption and announced the development of a national AI literacy initiative and that millions more dollars would flow into helping more Canadians and businesses use these technologies, with Carney declaring that Canada’s approach would be “prudent, pragmatic, and pro-worker.”

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Back on Parliament Hill however, opposition MPs were not buying it, slamming the Liberals’ plan as lacking on detail or addressing the level of trust Canadians have towards the technologies.

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“Many Canadians rightfully distrust AI,” Ontario MP Jamil Jivani, said in a statement following the strategy’s release. 

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“Mark Carney’s AI strategy does nothing to indicate the government understands this distrust or has a coherent vision for how to respond to the concerns of Canadians.”

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The federal New Democrats’ leader in Parliament, Don Davies, said rather than carrying the title, “AI for All,” he said the strategy ought to have been named “All in for AI.”

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“We know that this technology can produce benefits for Canadians,” he said, “but it needs effective regulation and strong guardrails.”

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The strategy announced on Thursday, written after the government received more than 11,000 submissions and heard from a 28-member expert group, emphasized how the Liberals recognized the need for trust.

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It promised to introduce further safeguards when it comes to Canadians’ privacy and personal information and the provision of “free AI literacy training” not only targeted at high school graduates and first-year university students, but increasing the training available for K-12 teachers.

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When it comes to legislative changes, the strategy committed the government to “modernize new consumer privacy legislation to enshrine a fundamental right to privacy” as well as introduce online safety laws.

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“We have to be honest about the risks that AI poses to Canadians and the challenges that Canada faces,” Carney said on Thursday.

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“Deepfakes, unsafe chat bots, AI-generated disinformation are becoming more prevalent.”

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The prime minister also added that “the privacy of Canadians is under threat globally.”

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Melissa Lantsman, the Opposition Conservatives’ deputy leader, said on Thursday that although the prime minister stated that concern, his plan missed the mark in addressing it.

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“There is no details in this strategy about privacy, about security, about how to keep Canadians safe.”

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The reality of Canadians like herself using AI was here, Lantsman said, but added, “we’ve got to put the, the guard rails in place, so the Canadians feel protected.”

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Davies, who represents a Vancouver riding, pointed to the ChatGPT exchanges that OpenAI had flagged internally but never reported to Canadian authorities involving shooter who months later opened fire on family members and students at a school in the interior town of Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

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He called it “a failure of companies to regulate clear warning signs.”

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“These are the kind of concerns that are that are being voiced by real people across this country, and they’re not seeing it from this government.”

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Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has previously said it was looking at all options when it comes to the question of regulating AI companies. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also apologized for his company’s handling of the earlier exchanges the shooter in Tumbler Ridge had with its chatbot, ChatGPT.

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Heritage Minister Marc Miller has also said the government was committed to bringing forward a new bill dealing with online safety but has not provided a timeline. He has also said the government was “very seriously” looking at the option of banning social media access for minors and looked to an expert panel to provide it with advice on how to tackle the issue of minors using AI chatbots.

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When it comes to jobs, the Liberals’ strategy targets creating up to 90,000 “AI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians to start their careers,” through the Canada Summer Jobs program, as well as “help creating up to 250,000 new jobs through the adoption of AI by 2031.”

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Carney said his government was committed to doing, “everything we can to make sure that AI is working for people, as opposed to replacing or working at cross purposes.”

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Both the Conservatives and New Democrats pointed to anxieties Canadians have about AI displacing their jobs and the fact that the country already struggles a high youth unemployment rate.

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Jivani said in his statement said that Carney’s strategy risks further exacerbating the situation for young people and “promises to create jobs with no specific plan for how to do so” as well as “makes no promises to protect jobs in Canada.”

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“Carney’s strategy shows he is unwilling to take any meaningful responsibility to hold corporate power accountable.” 

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Davies added that while many Canadians, including workers, were nervous about AI, Thursday’s plan failed to alleviate any of those concerns, adding he believed it was only the “corporate CEOs” who he says “seem to be truly excited about it” its potential for mass adoption.

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-National Post

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