Across North America, the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has begun to collide with public concerns about energy use, environmental impact, and who ultimately benefits.
Culture Minister Marc Miller says the government must have a serious conversation about AI systems' use of news. "Having the news cannibalized and regurgitated undermines the spirit of the use of that news in the first place and the purpose for which it's used and we have to have a serious conversation with the platforms that purport to use it...
In a stunning showdown last week between the Trump administration and frontier AI company Anthropic, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded that Anthropic allow its AI models to be used for “any lawful purpose,” without any restrictions. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused and laid out the company’s two red lines for its models’ usage by the US government: barring...
A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Tumbler Ridge shooter sent messages about gun violence to OpenAI’s ChatGPT over the course of several days last June. The posts were flagged by OpenAI’s automated review system and roughly a dozen employees debated whether the posts indicated the possibility of real world violence. Ultimately, however, OpenAI leadership decided...
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has called representatives of OpenAI to Ottawa to discuss safety concerns after learning the killer in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., was banned from using the company's ChatGPT platform months before the murders The company banned Jesse Van Rootselaar's account in June but said the activities on the account didn't meet the threshold...
The Bank of Canada’s second-in-command is warning of future inflation risks if investment in artificial intelligence is concentrated among the country’s big companies. Article content Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said that while large firms have the scale and capacity to make “big bets on technology,” the country’s ailing productivity is more likely to be repaired if there’s broader adoption...
Is artificial intelligence the salvation of mankind, or its downfall? Are markets justified in bidding up AI stocks as high as they have, or is it all a bubble? Will we look back on the hundreds of billions of dollars the AI titans are currently investing in capacity as having laid the foundations for a new age of prosperity, or...
Bell Canada and SAP Canada have signed a deal to jointly develop a Canadian‑operated cloud solution aimed at serving Canadian governments and regulated industries that require strict control over sensitive information. Under a memorandum of understanding, the companies will establish a fully Canadian-isolated cloud alternative intended to help ensure sensitive government, citizen and organizational data remain within Canada. The partnership...
Canada stands at a pivotal moment in its AI journey. New research from Strand Partners, conducted on behalf of AWS Canada, reveals that 650,000 Canadian businesses have embraced artificial intelligence—a 33% increase year-over-year that outpaces the global adoption of the internet. With one business adopting AI every three minutes, the momentum is clear. Yet the choices we make today –...
Nathan, a Toronto-based AI engineering manager for a Big Tech company, doesn’t take time off when he’s sick. Between coughing fits, he admits his work-life balance isn’t good. He asked that his surname not be used to avoid putting his job at risk. Federal and provincial governments have committed multiple billions of dollars to anchor AI infrastructure in Canada, courting...
The federal government is set to launch its new national artificial intelligence strategy soon -- but critics say it hasn't done enough to listen to Canadians and pollsters are warning that a skeptical public wants the government to put rules in place. "We see more of an inclination to want government to be a regulator of AI, to create the...
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,009 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between November 29th and December 2nd, 2025, as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Canada's spy watchdog is examining the use and governance of artificial intelligence in national security activities. The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency has informed key federal ministers and organizations of the study, which will look at how the security community defines, uses and oversees aspects of AI technologies. Canadian security agencies have used AI for tasks ranging from translation...
The dire warnings about AI keep coming. Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google, says that within a few years, millions of independent AI agents working together “will develop their own language.” And “we won’t understand what they’re doing.” They will have escaped human control. The University of Montreal computer scientist and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio told The Guardian this...
Study found Canadians were more likely to be swayed than Americans. Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study. The study, which included 1,530 Canadians, also found that the chatbots had more success convincing Canadians to switch their votes than it did...
Several members of the government’s artificial intelligence task force say they are worried Ottawa has already fallen behind in the global race to capitalize on a burgeoning economic driver, but they believe the forthcoming AI strategy may provide an opportunity for Canada to catch up. Louis Têtu, executive chairman of the AI software multinational Coveo, said Canada has long suffered...
At the Paris AI Action Summit in February, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders watched as U.S. Vice President JD Vance took the stage to rail against AI regulation. Vance's speech -- delivered with his face projected on a large screen between the intricately-carved pillars lining the stage at the historic Grand Palais -- marked the beginning of...
At Wonder Valley, the giant data centre in northwestern Alberta backed by flamboyant investor Kevin O’Leary, the wonder is behind schedule. Announced as all but a sure thing in December 2024, construction was supposed to begin by 2026 with a first phase operating by 2027.
Microsoft Corp. MSFT-T will spend more than $7.5-billion in Canada over the next two years as part of a data-centre expansion, while vowing to keep data within Canadian borders and resist any orders to discontinue services to government customers that could arise during uncertain geopolitical times. The company’s president and vice-chair Brad Smith is in Ottawa Tuesday to meet with...
Artificial intelligence is likely to take up much of the agenda as industry, digital and technology ministers from the world’s most powerful Western countries meet in Montreal this week. The two-day event is part of a series of ministerial meetings being held as Canada holds the presidency of the G7 group of nations this year. Prime Minister Mark Carney hosted...
The federal government has launched a public registry to keep Canadians in the loop on its growing use of artificial intelligence. The registry lists more than 400 areas where AI is currently being explored, developed, implemented or deployed within the government, including early research projects and tools for operations and service delivery. A Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat news release...
TORONTO -- As parents hunt for gifts that will wow their kids this holiday season, Canadian child development and psychology experts say they should be wary of AI-powered toys because of possible harms, ranging from privacy and security violations to interference with children's creativity and development.
Tool could help spot fraudsters, interference but should be examined critically: expert. Canadian researchers who track online misinformation and foreign interference are welcoming a new feature that reveals the location of an X account but warn that it still has glitches and its results should be taken with a grain of salt.
The Alberta government is about to take the next logical step in artificial intelligence -- using it to draft a proposed law. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally says the plan is to use AI to develop and introduce the Alberta Whisky Act when the house sits next spring. "AI is a tool that is being leveraged across many sectors in...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Johannesburg for the G20 summit, where South African officials say there will be a joint declaration despite a U.S. boycott. Carney is meeting today with leaders from France, Jamaica, Norway, Germany, the U.K., the European Union and the World Trade Organization. He is also taking part in official meetings with G20 leaders, with a...
WITH MORE THAN 400 EMPLOYEES and valued at $6.8 billion, Cohere is one of Canada’s leading artificial intelligence companies. At first glance, it seems perfectly poised to fulfill the federal government’s goals of keeping up with the global AI race and for achieving tech sovereignty from the United States.
Meeting Canada’s AI moment requires all of us – government, business, academia and entrepreneurs – to bet on Canada. Success demands that businesses embed AI into real operations while policy makers create conditions that reward sovereign innovation. Both matter. Both must move now.
A 30-day sprint cannot deliver sound ideas in the public interest. A proper review needs to recognize the threat of rising U.S. authoritarianism. Canada’s minister of artificial intelligence recently announced a “30-day national sprint” to help the government renew the country’s AI strategy and secure its oversight of ever-expanding digital technologies.
The Context host Annette Goerner sits down with Pierre Petelle, CEO of CropLife Canada to discuss unlocking the economic potential of Canada's food science and agriculture sector.
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says his upcoming privacy bill could include age restrictions for chatbots to protect children. He says he is also considering including in the legislation the right to delete deepfakes. Solomon maintains he hasn't changed his mind about rejecting a wide-ranging regulatory approach to AI. But he says he is open to taking action on specific...
The former Trudeau government’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, part of the larger Bill C-27, died when Parliament was dissolved earlier this year for the April election. It has not been reintroduced, leaving Canada lagging other countries in dealing with important issues of data sovereignty, especially in health care. These issues are critical and urgent. AI tools are already being...
The European Union's democracy commissioner says he won't "lecture" other countries as the EU pushes ahead on regulating tech platforms and artificial intelligence. Michael McGrath, the EU commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection, is visiting Canada as the Liberal government pursues an AI policy that puts less emphasis on regulation and more on adoption.
Big Tech has been stripping digital content from websites for decades. The Digital Services Tax was finally supposed to make them pay—until Donald Trump killed it. Now tensions are about to get even worse. AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini are turning into digital malls. And we know what happens to the stores on Main Street when everyone shops at...
My first job after finishing university, involved editing videos and developing a database of potential funders for an arts organization. Today much of that work would be automated. In the coming years, there is no doubt that my critical first job once I finished post-secondary will be done almost entirely by artificial intelligence. As young Canadians face the worst job...
Canada risks falling dangerously behind in the global race to harness the productivity-enhancing power of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Despite its world-class universities, highly educated population, and a history of AI research excellence (particularly emanating from the Greater Toronto Area), Canada’s workplace adoption of GenAI is currently less than half that of the United States.
If the new president of Microsoft Canada is concerned that a trade war with the United States will diminish his employer's stature north of the border, he's not showing it. Instead, Matt Milton addresses most questions about the challenges facing his company with Microsoft's resume -- 40 years in Canada and millions in annual investments in the Canadian economy. The...
As the Carney government promotes artificial intelligence as part of its bid to grow the Canadian economy, some inventors who use the technology and experts who study its impacts are calling on Ottawa to add more guardrails — something the federal government is actively examining. “The guardrails we have now are the ones that the big tech companies are self-imposing...
On the latest Forbes list of America’s richest people, Tesla co-founder Elon Musk ranks first, with a net worth of US$428-billion. Second richest is Larry Ellison, co-founder of the software firm Oracle, at US$276-billion. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is close behind, at US$253-billion, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, at US$241-billion. What all of these gentlemen have in common...
OpenAI's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane grew up in Maine, where he recalls there was no shortage of trees. They got chopped into lumber, shipped around the world and then turned into furniture that was often sold back to Mainers for several times more than the trees had cost in the first place. There's a version of that scenario...
The Liberal government has given its new AI "task force" until the end of the month to fast-track changes to the national artificial intelligence strategy -- a plan that critics say leans too much on the perspective of industry and the tech sector. Teresa Scassa, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada research chair in information law...
Ottawa says it wants an AI revolution. But before the robots arrive, there’ll be meetings. Many, many meetings. Mark Carney’s government has declared that artificial intelligence will be the future of the federal public service. A government that’s smarter, faster, and more responsive to Canadians. Imagine services that anticipate your needs instead of losing your forms. It’s the kind of...
