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

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 theSectoral 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.”

“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.”

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.
• 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.
• 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 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