The Government of Canada has published its national AI strategy: “AI for All”, promising free AI literacy training for all citizens, up to 250,000 new jobs by 2031, an AI Missions Programme with $200 million for projects improving health outcomes, and $700 million for access to public compute for SMEs via a new fund.
Six pillars outline the planned impact of the strategy for Canadians: protecting citizens and safeguarding democracy with modern privacy and AI safety capabilities, empowering Canadians with AI skills, AI for shared prosperity, sovereign compute infrastructure, scaling “great AI companies” in Canada, and building trusted partnerships and global alliances.
Around regulation, the government announces plans to modernise consumer privacy legislation to strengthen the fundamental right to privacy, introduce online safety laws, protect democratic institutions from AI-enabled misinformation, and review the Privacy Act on an ongoing basis to ensure it meets the needs of Canadians in the digital age.
A $500 million initiative from the Business Development Bank of Canada will support Canadian SMEs in accessing financing for incorporating AI tools into their operations, and a further $500 million will be used to expand the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative to accelerate adoption and commercialisation of AI across the country. A $500 million Canadian Tech Growth Fund will be established to tackle the “scale-up capital gap” facing promising AI companies, the government continues; whilst $700 million will be offered in affordable sovereign compute for Canadian SMEs. A new AI Missions programme is to advance high-impact projects delivering significant public good, with $200 million already committed to improving health outcomes for Canadians.
Recognising the importance of treating data as a “strategic national asset”, the government moves to put $100 million into the launch of the Health Sector Data Space to link secure, private, and standardised datasets for clinical trials and health research. Another $100 million will go toward expanding the VITAL health data platform across five additional provinces, leveraging clinical data and enabling health data innovation that helps reduce mortality and accelerate critical care.
$50 million will be invested to expand the capabilities of the Canadian AI Safety Institute to track emerging AI risks and to evaluate AI models. Trust will further be built through watermarking of AI-generated content, a Canada Trusted AI Certification programme for products on the marketplace, and new funding for the Standards Council of Canada’s AI programme in support of standards-based AI testing. The government notes plans also to build a “world-leading” public supercomputer allowing researchers and SMEs access to high-performance compute to drive innovation, and to invest in other capabilities and infrastructure like open-source AI, cloud, high-capacity fibre lines, satellite connectivity, chip design and fabrication, and secure digital systems used for sovereign cloud, AI, cyber, and quantum initiatives.
$30 million will be invested in CanCode to fund not-for-profit organisations in delivering free skills training with an emphasis on underrepresented groups; entry-level AI training will be made accessible to all Canadians; and AI learning kits will be provided to classrooms to train more than 3,000 educators. AI adoption will be accelerated across female-dominated sectors, Indigenous-led AI initiatives will be supported and amplified, and up to 90,000 AI-related job opportunities will be created, including 10,000 through Mitacs ADOPT and AI+X programmes. The government further shares ambitions to establish a “world first” AI equity-based national standard on accessible AI to help remove accessibility barriers from AI systems.
In meeting these ambitions for AI, the government makes a number of pledges to sustainability around data centre usage, highlighting Canada’s “unique position” in building AI infrastructure responsibly and sustainably. “As demand for AI compute grows, Canada’s approach will be to link new data centre development with clean energy expansion, robust environmental standards, and tangible benefits for local communities, ensuring that Canada remains at the forefront of sustainable high-performance computing infrastructure,” it states. “Canada will double the electricity grid, largely with clean power, hydro, nuclear and renewables, and leverage its cold climate to give itself a built-in cost advantage that competitors are spending billions to replicate artificially while minimising carbon footprint and water usage.”
Wider trend: AI
A new British-French partnership is set to tackle women’s health challenges and infectious diseases using emerging tech such as AI and supercomputers. As well as bringing together data from across the globe on a range of diseases such as E. coli, researchers from both nations will use novel imaging and AI technologies to study infections including TB, malaria, and emerging viruses, sharing research expertise, and working together on joint funding bids. £900,000 of UK government funding has been committed to furthering the partnership between the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, which hosts the Isambard‑AI supercomputer, and France’s computing centre GENCI. £300,000 UK funding and €330,000 from the French government has also been agreed to support early-career researchers and new collaboration opportunities.
The CQC has shared progress on how its developing the regulatory model and assessment frameworks for the use of AI in health and social care, noting its role in assessing how AI meets fundamental standards, the impact on risks, safety or access to care, and to recognise when AI contributes to outstanding care. Providers should follow a number of principles, the CQC explains, including the use of AI to enhance but not replace human decision making, human oversight and continual monitoring of outputs and processes, transparency and choice to support informed decisions, safety and reliability, and security. Those using AI should be “sufficiently trained” and confident in its use, it continues, effective governance should be in place, DPIAs should be used to assess risks to privacy and data, and clear mechanisms should be present to address harms or issues caused by AI.
An AI policy from Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust has outlined its acceptable uses, practical guidance, and responsibility for the use of AI tools and systems. “The trust is committed to fostering a culture of innovation across all levels of the organisation, encouraging staff to explore new ideas, challenge conventional practices, and embrace creative solutions that enhance patient care, operational efficiency, and workforce wellbeing,” Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber states. “As part of this commitment, we actively support the responsible exploration and integration of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.”
