Documents on Artificial Intelligence in Canada

I just got back from the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Hamilton, Ontario (conference program).

Not surprisingly, a lot of attention was devoted to the topic of artificial intelligence.

The opening keynote talk was given by Prof, Teresa Scassa of the University of Ottawa on “Regulating AI in Canada: Bill C-27 and the AI and Data Act”. 

It just so happens that the current issue of the Canadian Bar Review has published an article of hers on the topic of her presentation:

"Canada’s  Bill  C-27,  The  Digital  Charter  Implementation  Act,  includes  a  proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). If passed, the AIDA would establish a series of obligations regarding the use of anonymized data in AI systems; the design, development and making available for use of AI systems  generally;  and  the  design,  development  and  making  available  for  use of high-impact AI systems. The bill is challenging to fully understand, as many of these obligations are left to be fleshed out in regulations, including even the definition of the “high impact” AI, to which the AIDA will apply. Oversight of the regime will be the responsibility of the Minister of Industry, who  is  also  responsible  for  supporting  the  growth  of  the  AI  industry  in  Canada."

"This  paper  analyzes  the  AIDA  and  the  context  into  which  it  was  introduced.  This  context  includes  a  rapidly  evolving  AI  landscape,  as  well  as  important  governance  initiatives  emerging  internationally,  including  from  the  European  Union  and  the  United  States.  It  also  explores  a  set  of  constraints  on  Canadian  law  and  policy  developments  in  this  space.  Part  2  considers  how  the  AIDA  is  meant  to  be  both  ‘agile’  and  a  form  of  risk  regulation, and it measures the AIDA against these concepts. In Part 3, the paper considers the scope of the AIDA and a few of the particular constraints that  shaped  it.  These  include:  the  cross-sectoral  nature  of  AI  technology,  Canada’s constitutional division of powers, and the Canadian tendency to address public and private sector actors separately. Together, the two parts of the paper provide a view of the context and constraints that have shaped the  AIDA,  casting  light  on  some  of  the  challenges  faced  in  regulating  AI,  and surfacing important issues for the consultation and engagement that is necessary to properly regulate AI in Canada."

It is possible to follow the progress of the bill through the houses of the Canadian Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

Another interesting article (forthcoming) is Mapping Artificial Intelligence Use in the Government of Canada by Paul Daly, also a University of Ottawa professor:

"On the one hand, technological advances and their enthusiastic uptake by government entities are seen as a push toward a Canadian dystopic state, with friendly bureaucrats being replaced by impassive machines. On the other hand, embracing technology is considered a confident move of the Canadian administrative state toward an utopian low-cost, high-impact decision making process."

"I will suggest in this paper that the truth—for the moment, at least—lies somewhere between the extremes of dystopia and utopia. In the federal public administration, technology is being deployed in a variety of areas, but rarely, if ever, displacing human decision making. Indeed, technology tends to be leveraged in areas of public policy that don’t involve any settling of benefits, statuses, licenses, and so on."

"We are still a long way from sophisticated machine learning tools deciding whether marriages are genuine, whether tax payers are compliant or whether nuclear facilities are safe. The reality is more down to earth."