Canada now has a minister of artificial intelligence. What will he do?
CBC
Canada has its first-ever minister of artificial intelligence in veteran broadcaster and newly elected Toronto Centre MP Evan Solomon.
So what does that job exactly entail?
When asked what Solomon's mandate and responsibilities will be, a spokesperson from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) pointed to the Liberal platform as "the best bet for now."
The platform, released a little over a week before the April 28 election, suggests Solomon will have a massive job touching nearly every aspect of the economy and with national security considerations.
His boss Mark Carney has called for sweeping use of artificial intelligence to create the "economy of the future," incentivize businesses to adopt AI and build the infrastructure needed to support all that work.
"Artificial intelligence is the key to unlocking productivity, higher paying jobs and new prosperity that will benefit everyone," the document promises.
Adegboyega Ojo, Canada Research Chair in Governance and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Carleton University, said the new cabinet position — and the platform — sends the right signal.
"Prime Minister Carney is walking the talk," he said.
"They've done their homework in terms of where the issues are and what needs to be done."
When it comes to the federal government, the platform calls for AI to slash repetitive tasks and reduce costs in the public service.
And it calls to set up an office of digital transformation, something Solomon — whose full title is minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation — will likely oversee.
"This is about fundamentally transforming how Canadians interact with their government, ensuring timely, accessible and high-quality services that meet Canadians' needs," notes the platform.
"This could mean using AI to address government service backlogs and improve service delivery times, so that Canadians get better services, faster."
Ojo said AI-powered virtual assistants, or chatbots, could easily help Canadians get basic information from the government in any language they need.
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