Canada has a strong head start in these early innings of AI

As I wrote this, Google announced that its Bard AI chatbot had outpaced Chat-GPT. Things move fast in AI, but one thing remains constant: the Canadian tendency to discount our place in it. For example, when you learned that the pan-Canadian AI strategy had chosen three research clusters to support in Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton, did you assume the latter was tacked on for regional parity? Yet Edmonton’s Amii institute, created back in 2002, is a model of AI literacy, expansion, and research, at the highest ranked Canadian university for AI research over the past two decades. Canada’s coordinated AI strategy was the first ever in the world, though many other countries caught up by quickly developing their own. In the intervening years, it seems some of them have passed us, with billions of centralized government funding (China), private venture capital from a pool larger than anywhere in the world (United States) or uniting neighbouring countries already linked through binding agreements (EU). Canada’s simultaneous commitment to ethical development and deployment has furthered our place on the world stage, assuring that fairness, transparency, safety and accountability be part of the national dialogue. This is an essential step, when so many experts in the field have spoken out on the risks and dangers of generative AI. There remain immediate areas for funding and improvement. Canadian researchers urgently require greater computational power. Currently their public supercomputer networks hum at maximum capacity, 24 hours a day. Corporate Canada needs to be quicker to adopt AI, with only 3.7 per cent of businesses having done so as of 2021. This may require university business and accountancy programs adapted to include coursework and post-graduate upgrade opportunities that will help financial decision-makers understand key AI opportunities and metrics to improve their bottom line. None of this means that Canada is failing. Far from it. In 2023, the three national institutes plus CIFAR, in conjunction with Deloitte, released a report on Canada’s success so far. Despite a sub-40 million population, Canada ranks fifth in the world for AI start-ups. We’re first among G7 nations in building and retaining AI talent. Canadian researchers produced more AI publications per capita in 2022 than any other G7 nation. And from 2022–2023 the total number of Canadian AI patents leapt 57 per cent, the second highest growth rate in the G7. This is IP power. For all this work to take root in Canada, it must have a place to grow. Sustaining the health of the entire ecosystem is essential, by connecting talent to industry, venture capital, and global innovation networks. This makes it both a government and citizen challenge. On top of funding research and collaboration, governments must work to preserve digital sovereignty, set frameworks to manage ethical risks, and lead by example in adapting and modelling their own use of AI. Governments can also play a role in fostering innovation through new taxation models, STEM education initiatives, and re-training citizens for the new economy. Business and finance will need to be braver, investing in AI to increase profitability, productivity, and global competitive advantage. The alternative is to live in a world where public innovation in Canada becomes privately held by companies in other countries. Canada’s AI researchers have earned lifetime achievement awards, global recognition, and even the Turing Prize for contributions of lasting and major technical importance in computer science. The old guard has mentored, led, and nurtured a group of major scientists 1,000 strong across the country, all while contributing to patents that underpin the most well-known and promising technologies in the world. The rest is up to us. Rikia Saddy is a strategic adviser to CEOs in Canada, the United States and Europe. The Hill Times

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Canada has a strong head start in these early innings of AI

Canada’s coordinated AI strategy was the first ever in the world, though many other countries caught up by quickly developing their own.

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