Solomon says new federal AI strategy will analyze impact on jobs

The federal government’s promised new national AI strategy will consider the technology’s impacts on the labour market, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said on Monday.

It’s been six months since the government wrapped up fast-tracked consultations on the strategy — Solomon initially promised it would be tabled by the end of last year. He said last fall Canada couldn’t afford to wait and had to move quickly.

When he was asked Monday to explain the delay in introducing the strategy, Solomon said it would be released “very soon.”

Solomon said the impact of AI has been changing and he is still consulting on the strategy, citing recent meetings with labour leaders, environmentalists and young people.

“Even when we did our consultations, the industry has changed dramatically. The impact of AI has changed and we are consulting,” he said.

Solomon said the strategy will address AI’s impacts on labour.

“We are making sure that when we launch this strategy, there’s an element … that it will meet the changing needs of labour and all the stakeholder groups,” he said.

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Last fall, the government appointed a task force to advise it on the new strategy, but critics said that group leaned too much on the perspective of industry and the tech sector. It also held a public consultation that received more than 11,000 comments, which the government sorted through using AI.

Shortly after he became Canada’s AI minister, Solomon suggested Canada would move away from “over-indexing on warnings and regulation” to make sure the economy benefits from AI.

But the Liberal government has since moved to address some AI-related harms and plans to introduce a new online harms bill that could incorporate AI chatbots. Solomon has maintained recently that Canada must strike a balance between AI cheerleaders and those who are completely opposed to the technology.

“Our government is very pragmatic. This stuff is here. We’re going to do it safely and fairly and we’re going to find the right balance to do it,” Solomon said at an event in Ottawa last week.