Federal government launches flurry of AI chatbots and tools

The federal public service is adding new artificial intelligence tools. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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The federal government has launched a flurry of artificial intelligence tools and chatbots in recent weeks, bolstering its goal of using the technology to increase productivity and efficiency in the public service.

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Officials from Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and Shared Services Canada (SSC) spoke at a Commons committee on government operations on April 23, to update MPs on new AI tools being used in the federal government.

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AI use continues to grow across the public service as the Liberal government looks to cut billions of dollars in operational spending and shed the jobs of about 30,000 public servants.

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Michael Hammond, chief financial officer for PSPC, pointed to the launch of Procura Chatbot (Beta), an AI chatbot that will be used to help individuals and businesses find general information about how to do business with the federal government.

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Procura was launched this week and will be available on the CanadaBuys website. It “relies on publicly available resource to answer questions,” according to the federal government’s website about the tool.

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“Since it uses AI, the chatbot may not have all the answers and can make mistakes. For detailed or account-specific questions, we recommend contacting the dedicated help line or live chat during business hours,” the website added.

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A lack understanding and clarity about the complex federal procurement system has been a longstanding barrier for bidding, and winning contracts, particularly for small to medium sized businesses.

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In recent months, the federal government also launched CANChat, a generative AI tool created by SSC.

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The tool is meant to act similar to “ChatGPT and other generative AI tools” to help public servants “become more productive,” according to a government website.

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“So collectively, we work together, and collectively, we’re enabling public servants to be more efficient using AI tools,” Scott Davis, assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer at SSC, told parliamentarians.

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Davis added that the tools will ensure “better service to Canadians” and to help SSC “be more productive in primarily project management and a series of other transactional tools to enable better service internally.”

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CANChat is a collective of large-language models made by several companies, officials said.

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One model has been tasked to include “drafting professional correspondence, developing written content and generating clear, well-structured answers to queries, especially those requiring a Canadian context.”

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When asked how his department is supporting public servants through the AI transition, Hammond said public servants have access to Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and a “number of AI tools internally.”