Prime Minister highlights Canada's leadership in AI at the One Young World Summit in Montréal

MONTRÉAL, Sept. 20, 2024 /CNW/ - Artificial intelligence (AI) has the power to strengthen our economy, boost productivity, and create exciting new opportunities for every generation, including Millennials and Gen Z. The global race to scale up and adopt AI is on, and Canada is at the forefront of this technology.

Today, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, participated in a fireside chat with global AI expert Yoshua Bengio at the One Young World Summit in Montréal, Quebec. Canada has a world-leading AI ecosystem - from development, to commercialization, to safety. In order to maintain Canada's competitive edge and secure good-paying jobs for generations of young Canadians, we are raising the bar.

At this event, the Prime Minister highlighted the $2.4 billion package of measures announced by the federal government in Budget 2024 to secure Canada's AI advantage. These investments will accelerate job growth in Canada's AI sector and beyond, boost productivity by helping researchers and businesses develop and adopt AI, and ensure this is done responsibly.

These measures include:

    --  Investing $2 billion to build and provide access to computing
        capabilities and technological infrastructure for Canada's world-leading
        AI researchers, start-ups, and scale-ups. As part of this investment, we
        held consultations over the summer to inform the design and
        implementation of the AI Compute Access Fund and the Canadian AI
        Sovereign Compute Strategy. Together, these initiatives aim to provide
        near-term support to researchers and industry while helping to build
        Canada's domestic AI infrastructure. Ensuring access to cutting-edge
        computing infrastructure will attract more global AI investment to
        Canada, develop and recruit the best talent, and help Canadian
        businesses compete and succeed on the world stage.
    --  Boosting AI start-ups with $200 million in support to bring new
        technologies to market and accelerate AI adoption in critical sectors,
        such as agriculture, clean technology, health care, and manufacturing,
        through Canada's Regional Development Agencies.
    --  Investing $100 million in the NRC IRAP AI Assist Program to help small
        and medium-sized businesses scale up and increase productivity by
        building and deploying new AI solutions. This will help companies
        incorporate AI into their businesses and take on research, product
        development, testing, and validation work for new AI-based solutions.
    --  Providing $50 million to support workers who may be impacted by AI.
        Administered through the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program, this
        funding will provide new skills training for workers in potentially
        disrupted sectors and communities.
    --  Creating a new Canadian AI Safety Institute, with $50 million to further
        the safe development and deployment of AI. The Institute, which will
        leverage input from stakeholders and work in coordination with
        international partners, will help Canada better understand and protect
        against the risks of advanced AI systems, including to specific
        communities.
    --  Strengthening enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act,
        with $5.1 million for the Office of the AI and Data Commissioner. The
        proposed Act aims to guide AI innovation in a positive direction to help
        ensure Canadians are protected from potential risks by ensuring the
        responsible adoption of AI by Canadian businesses.

These investments in innovation and economic growth will secure Canada's world-leading AI advantage, today and for generations to come. This will create good-paying opportunities for every generation, raise productivity, and strengthen our economy. Alongside this, we are making generational investments to train top-tier, homegrown research talent, making post-secondary education more affordable with interest-free Canada Student Loans, and ramping up investments to support research infrastructure and institutes.

Quotes

"Our government is harnessing the full potential of AI so Canadians, and especially young Canadians, can get good-paying jobs and a fair chance to succeed. Our partnerships with innovators, researchers, and experts like Yoshua Bengio are a testament to our commitment to making Canada the world-leader in AI adoption and safety. That's good news for the economy, for productivity, and for Canada's future."
-- The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

"AI promises to make our economy more productive and make Canada a more prosperous country. To capitalize on this promise, the Government of Canada will launch the Canadian AI Safety Institute in the coming months to better understand emerging risks associated with the most advanced AI systems. The government is also investing in computing infrastructure so Canadian researchers and industry will have access to the data processing power needed to lead in the development and deployment of AI."
-- The Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Quick Facts

    --  The One Young World Summit is an annual event that brings together young
        leaders to connect, share ideas, and tackle global challenges to inspire
        greater achievements, both individually and collectively. This year's
        Summit is taking place in Montréal from September 18 to 21, 2024.
    --  Canadian expert Yoshua Bengio is recognized around the world for his
        groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning,
        which earned him the 2018 A.M. Turing Award - the Association for
        Computing Machinery's most prestigious award. He is a professor at the
        Université de Montréal, the founder and scientific director of Mila -
        the world's largest academic research centre for deep learning - and a
        prominent advocate for the responsible development of AI.
    --  Since the 1990s, Canada has been a leader in AI and deep learning,
        thanks in part to the groundbreaking research and innovations of Yoshua
        Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton - the "Godfathers of AI". In the decades
        since, Canada has built up a robust and growing AI industry across the
        country, anchored by our three national AI institutes: Amii in Edmonton,
        Alberta; Mila in Montréal, Quebec; and the Vector Institute in Toronto,
        Ontario.
    --  Most recently, the federal government announced a $15.2 million
        contribution from the Strategic Innovation Fund to support Coveo
        Solutions Inc.'s project to enhance its platform with new, cutting-edge
        AI technology. Coveo's $100 million project will upgrade its platform
        with advanced AI technology and other innovations, allowing enterprises
        to efficiently develop and deploy AI solutions that will provide
        personalized user experiences to customers and employees. This project
        will encourage collaboration with Canadian universities and research
        institutes and is expected to create and sustain 590 high-skilled jobs.
    --  Since 2016, the federal government has committed more than $16 billion
        to support scientific discovery, develop Canadian research talent, and
        attract top researchers from around the planet; and over $2 billion to
        foster growth across Canada's AI ecosystem and digital infrastructure.
    --  In 2017, Canada was the first country to establish a national AI
        strategy. The Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy is helping
        Canada maintain its position as a world leader in AI, businesses be more
        competitive, and Canadians benefit from growth in the digital economy.
        Phase 2 of the strategy was announced in 2022, with funding of more than
        $443 million.
    --  In 2023, Canada announced renewed funding for the Global Innovation
        Clusters, including Scale AI, bringing total funding for the
        organization to up to $284 million. Scale AI is dedicated to promoting
        collaboration in AI and supply chain management innovation by
        strengthening linkages between industry, academia, and research
        institutes in Canada and abroad, and providing financial support for AI
        and supply chain management projects.
    --  Canada is a leader in the responsible adoption of AI and was recently
        ranked number one among 80 countries, tied with South Korea and Japan,
        in the Center for AI and Digital Policy's 2024 global report on
        Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values.

Associated Links

    --  One Young World Summit Montréal 2024
    --  Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    --  Responsible use of artificial intelligence in government
    --  Securing Canada's AI advantage

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office