Free course covering basics of AI to be available to all Canadians by end of the year

Free course covering basics of AI to be available to all Canadians by end of the year

K-12 teachers, post-secondary students will be first to get access Sept. 21

With the artificial intelligence boom sweeping across Canada and around the world, the federal government is making efforts it says will ensure Canadians understand what AI is, what it can do and how it will impact them.

To do that, they're launching the National AI Literacy Initiative, which will provide post-secondary students, kindergarten to Grade 12 educators and the rest of Canadians access to a free online course to teach them the basics.

"The best way to ensure success at a time of change and innovation is through education," Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan Solomon said at an event in Edmonton on Wednesday launching the initiative.

"We will, as the first step in our AI strategy, invest in students, invest in teachers and invest in all Canadians' education and literacy."

Solomon said the approach is to develop the technology to help "people first" and ensure AI is a "technology to serve people."

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The federal government is providing $13 million in funding to launch three free courses in partnership with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII) and expand them to every Canadian that wants access, Solomon said.

The participants work through course modules at their own pace, and Solomon said they are designed to take about three hours to complete.

The courses are not led by an instructor, Solomon's office told CBC News.

The first two courses are geared toward educators and post-secondary students and will be made available to educational institutions on Sept. 21. The course designed for all Canadians will launch sometime after that but before the end of the calendar year.

"Together, these learning opportunities will give Canadians the confidence to use AI where it serves them, the judgment to question it where it does not and the knowledge to make informed choices about its place in their lives," a government statement said.

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The statement said the course for teachers will "provide K-12 educators with practical training and classroom-ready resources, with five additional chapters to be released throughout the fall."

The program for post-secondary students has been designed, the government said, to help them "understand AI and use it confidently and responsibly while building foundational AI knowledge and workplace readiness skills."

The third course, named Essentials for Canadians, will be available through Employment and Social Development Canada's national Training Finder in its Job Bank, as well as through yet to be announced community partners.

"Canada helped create modern AI. Now we are making sure Canadians have the knowledge and confidence to shape what comes next," Solomon said in a statement.

Peter Zimonjic is a senior writer for CBC News who reports for digital, radio and television. He has worked as a reporter and columnist in London, England, for the Telegraph, Times and Daily Mail, and in Canada for the Ottawa Citizen, Torstar and Sun Media. He is the author of Into The Darkness: An Account of 7/7, published by Vintage.