Canada launches first AI strategy for federal public service
The Canadian government has launched its first strategy for AI in the public service, in a bid to boost the productivity of its workforce and deliver enhanced digital services to citizens.
Launched on 4 March by Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the president of the Canadian Treasury Board, the strategy was developed in consultation with experts from a range of disciplines and with the public.
“With the first-ever AI strategy for the public service, we’re laying the groundwork to leverage the potential of this technology to deliver the best possible services to Canadians,” Taylor said.
A day after the launch, Taylor posted on X to mark the government’s step towards “stimulating innovation, ensuring accountability, and building a future where Canadians benefit from AI both ethically and effectively”.
Four priorities for AI in government
The government said the strategy’s inclusion of Canadian citizens’ views on AI in government ensured it would support its “democratic values”.
The strategy comprises four priorities: establishing an AI Centre of Expertise to “support and to help coordinate government-wide AI efforts”; ensuring AI systems are “secure and used responsibly”; providing training and talent development pathways; and building trust in AI through “openness and transparency” about how it is used.
The government added that as well as improving the productivity of its workforce and delivering enhanced digital services to Canadians, the use of AI would also enhance its “scientific and research capabilities”.
Read more: UK government issues AI playbook to repair ‘broken public services’
Amplifying Canada’s digital ambition
The strategy compliments the Canadian government’s existing digital strategy, a long-term vision to prioritise people, policy and technology in all future public service delivery.
Part of that ambition is to ensure the federal government remains what Taylor called “dynamic and responsive to the ever-changing digital landscape”.
“We must continue to keep pace with the rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence, ensure that our democratic institutions remain strong, resilient, and trusted, and address the growing threat of cyber-attacks on government institutions,” she said.
Earlier this year, Canada’s deputy secretary for AI, Mark Schaan, told Global Government Forum that the country’s AI secretariat planned to advance “large-scale, signature initiatives” to “progress back-office solutions” for government that drive “productivity within our internal operations and provide efficient services to Canadians”.
He added that the government’s agenda also included C$2bn worth of investment in compute infrastructure, as well as efforts to strengthen leadership in AI safety and security to support “the preservation of public trust in democratic institutions”.
Schaan said the government would continue to pursue international cooperation including “supporting the Canadian G7 presidency and demonstrat[ing] Canada’s AI leadership, while linking these efforts to domestic priorities, including the needs of Canadian provinces and territories”.
Read more: New Zealand government forges path to responsible AI with new framework
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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