Google has created a new fund to expand artificial intelligence (AI) skills development and training programs across Canada as it invests heavily in the technology.
The American internet search giant’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, is using its AI Opportunity Fund to provide approximately $13 million CAD in funding to four Canadian organizations. This includes the $5-million grant announced for the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) plus more than $2.7 million apiece to Vancouver’s First Nations Technology Council (FNTC), Toronto’s Skills for Change (SFC), and the Toronto Public Library (TPL).
Google Canada vice president and managing director Sabrina Geremia said in an interview with BetaKit that the company aims to help recipients scale their workforce development initiatives and provide AI skills training to as many as two million Canadians.
“I’d love to see us be as great on the adoption.”
Sabrina Geremia,
Google Canada
“We know that AI is a really transformative technology,” Geremia said. “It is going to reshape so many different areas of life [and] our work, and we want to make sure that Canada is capturing the opportunity. We also want to make sure that Canadians are really getting the skills that they need.”
Google, which has offered upskilling programming for years, provides free, in-house AI and other digital skills training through Grow with Google.
Geremia said Google.org selected these organizations because of their track records and community reach, and noted that each recipient has a slightly different focus.
Edmonton-based AI research institute Amii plans to use its Google.org funding to help post-secondary educators integrate AI into their courses. Amii intends to establish a national consortium of 25 post-secondary institutions that will develop “easy-to-use AI curriculum materials” and help faculty layer AI into their teaching. It expects the initiative to equip 125,000 students across the country with foundational AI skills. CEO Cam Linke recently joined the BetaKit Podcast to discuss some of the work Amii is doing in more detail.
The FNTC will train over 335 Indigenous students in AI, and provide AI resources to 7,000 other members of the community, as part of efforts to increase Indigenous representation in tech. The Indigenous-led non-profit serves all 204 First Nations in British Columbia, offering digital skills training on everything from Instagram to websites and drones.
In an interview with BetaKit, FNTC director of digital skills and career development Kim Henderson said Google.org’s support will help the organization develop AI programming for Indigenous students and an AI toolkit for other members of the community, guided by the research FNTC is doing into how the tech can benefit Indigenous communities.
“We know that less than one percent of the Indigenous population is involved in the technology sector,” Henderson said. “So we can do way better than that. There’s just so much potential. We need a seat at the table.”
RELATED: Google grants Amii $5 million to help post-secondary schools develop AI curriculums
SFC aims to provide AI skills to 20,000 individuals from communities facing high unemployment through hands-on programming that equips them with industry-relevant AI literacy.
SFC CEO Surranna Sandy told BetaKit in an interview that the non-profit aims to help newcomers and other underserved groups develop the AI skills they need to advance in their careers, land quality jobs, build new products, and launch their own companies. Sandy said SFC intends to embed this training across all of the programs it delivers.
“We don’t want anyone to be left behind,” Sandy added. “We want everyone to have the skills and knowledge in order to contribute to Canada’s economic productivity.”
“We want to present a complete picture so that people can make the best informed use of AI.”
Ab Velasco, TPL
For its part, TPL plans to launch a Toronto-wide AI upskilling initiative to provide users with access to free AI tools, skills training, and programming. TPL aims to serve over 11,000 community members from equity-deserving groups and more than two million Torontonians, including through virtual and in-person learning circles (which resemble study groups), generative AI products, and workshops.
TPL manager of innovation (AI services) Ab Velasco acknowledged that AI comes with benefits and risks. In an interview with BetaKit, he said TPL has tried to develop a “balanced, thoughtful approach” to training people on the tech, and sought to be transparent about the privacy and safety risks along with the environmental impact. “We want to present a complete picture so that people can make the best informed use of AI,” Velasco added.
Geremia noted that AI has the potential to augment existing jobs, create new ones, help employees save time completing repetitive tasks, and boost productivity.
She said she sees a lot of opportunity for Canada when it comes to AI, given the country’s strength on the research side of the equation. But she noted that the country lags its peers, citing a recent Deloitte report that found only 26 percent of Canadian organizations have adopted AI compared to 34 percent globally.
“We have been incredible in the research phase of developing the AI tools, and really, the groundbreaking research that started this entire technological revolution,” Geremia said. “And I’d love to see us be as great on the adoption.”
According to a 2024 Future Skills Centre report, the top barrier to AI adoption noted by Canadian businesses is difficulty finding employees with the necessary AI skills and expertise to integrate the tech into their operations.
Amid continued hype from across the industry about AI’s potential to solve all of the world’s problems, data indicates many companies who have raced to adopt AI have yet to see a payoff.
A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper surveyed 7,000 workplaces to determine if AI chatbots impacted their bottom line and found “no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation.” Another study from Boston Consulting Group found only a quarter of the 1,800 executives surveyed had seen significant value from AI.
Last week at Web Summit Vancouver, BetaKit captured New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus’ pointed criticisms of generative AI and unpacked the proof-of-concept fatigue that has taken hold and what the path forward might look like for enterprise adoption with Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang.
Feature image courtesy Google.