Canada is joining an international coalition in funding an artificial intelligence (AI) safety initiative based in the United Kingdom (UK), as it looks to push both responsible AI development and rapid, widespread adoption.
The federal government said it would commit $1 million toward the UK AI Security Institute’s Alignment Project to advance research into safe and reliable deployment of AI without harmful consequences.
Canada’s federal AI safety organization, the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI), will contribute the funding through the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), according to a press release.
“Few challenges are more urgent than ensuring AI is safe, predictable and beneficial for all.”
Elissa Strome
CIFAR
A total of $29 million has been committed to the project by an international coalition of partners, including Silicon Valley-based venture firm Safe AI Fund and cloud giant Amazon Web Services.
The government said the initiative will provide three support streams for AI researchers: $1.8 million in grant funding, access to computing resources to train and run AI models, and access to venture capital funding for commercial AI applications.
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Canadian AI researcher Yoshua Bengio, who is often referred to as one of the “godfathers” of AI for his seminal work on deep neural networks, will be part of the advisory board for the project. Bengio recently founded research organization LawZero, which aims to build a “scientist AI” that establishes guardrails for AI agents.
The potential risks of unfettered AI development include widespread misinformation and disinformation, manipulation of public opinion, adverse environmental impacts, and violations of user privacy, according to an international AI safety report co-authored by Bengio.
“CIFAR’s mandate is to convene the world’s top researchers to address the most pressing challenges facing humanity, and few challenges are more urgent than ensuring AI is safe, predictable and beneficial for all,” Elissa Strome, the executive director of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at CIFAR, said in a statement.
Scientists and academics at CIFAR help lead AI safety research efforts at CAISI, which is housed under Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED).
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AI and digital innovation minister Evan Solomon said in a statement that the joint research initiative will ensure the “next generation of AI systems are not only powerful but also reliable.”
Since assuming his newly created role in May, Solomon has aggressively encouraged AI adoption amongst Canadian companies, calling the technology’s rapid growth a “crisis moment” for Canada and announcing funding for several domestic AI projects. The minister also indicated that he seeks to balance this AI push with “light, tight, [and] right” regulations for the industry.
The previous Liberal government’s central legislation on AI and privacy, Bill C-27, was effectively halted when former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January. Solomon told BetaKit that the government is not planning to revive the previously proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), introduced as part of Bill C-27, but will consider which aspects of AIDA to carry forward to future regulation.
Both the Canadian and UK governments recently signed memoranda of understanding with prominent Canadian AI company Cohere. The company will focus on “transforming” Canadian government operations with AI and collaborating on AI research with CAISI. In the UK, Cohere is tasked with adopting AI in government services, growing the UK’s AI talent pool, advancing AI security, and exploring opportunities to deploy AI in defence contexts.
Canada’s alignment with the UK on AI safety comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney has pushed for wider AI use within government. Under Trudeau, Canada previously attempted to strike a balance between Europe’s ardent approach to regulation and the United States’ hands-off federal vision for AI policy.
Feature image courtesy Minister Evan Solomon via Instagram.