Carney announces refreshed national AI strategy will be released next week

Carney announces refreshed national AI strategy will be released next week

The strategy, expected to outline Ottawa's vision for AI, has faced several delays

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the federal government's much-anticipated national AI strategy, which has faced multiple delays over the last few months, will be released next week.

Carney shared the news on his way into a Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday morning. In response to a reporter's question about why the strategy had not been released yet, Carney said: "It's coming out next week."

The strategy is expected to detail Ottawa's plans for the rapidly evolving technology. In its spring economic update, the federal government shared the six pillars that will underpin the national strategy:

The descriptions of the pillars also mention "giving access to AI training and education for all Canadians," and "modern privacy and online safety laws, strong national AI safety capabilities, and secure government systems."

Some executives in the country's tech sector have expressed hope the strategy will not only support the AI industry, but accelerate its growth so Canada can become a leader on AI technology, talent and companies.

Meanwhile, some provinces are considering taking some action on AI into their own hands, like Manitoba, which has announced Canada's first social media and AI chatbot ban for children under 16. The federal government has previously said it's considering something similar.

Government partners with Telus on building sovereign AI infrastructure

The federal government is taking taking steps to bolster its AI industry. At Web Summit Vancouver earlier this month, AI Minister Evan Solomon providing $66 million to an array of Canadian artificial intelligence projects to help them access compute power to commercialize and scale up their work.

The money, which will be distributed to 44 projects, is coming from the federal government's AI Compute Access Fund, which currently has a total budget of $300 million.

The federal government also announced at Web Summit it is "advancing work" with Telus on a proposal to expand a data centre in Kamloops, B.C., and developing two new facilities in downtown Vancouver and the city's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

That announcement generated some criticism from Vancouver residents, who protested the idea last week and demanded the city and federal government stop the projects. The protestors cited concerns over rising electricity demand and massive water consumption linked to AI data centres

According to Telus, the facilities will run on 98 per cent clean hydro power and recycle enough waste energy to heat 150,000 homes. It says the projects will also use 90 per cent less water than a traditional data centre, and that it is working on plans to incorporate recycled water from B.C. Place stadium.

A spokesperson for Solomon's office told CBC News there are no federal dollars involved in those projects at this point, but off-take agreements or contracts could potentially be part of the structure, depending on developments.

Benjamin Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on X at @bensteven_s.