Facing a brewing AI crisis, Canadians call on leaders to act
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Montreal, January 30th, 2025 - The Coalition for Responsible AI is a new citizen initiative that offers a rallying point for Canadians impacted or concerned about AI. Its purpose is to push Canada's elected leaders to adequately protect Canadians from the risks, to mitigate the disruption, and to ensure that everyone shares in the benefits. An official launch event was held simultaneously across Canada on Tuesday, January 28th. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have caught the world by surprise, and Canadians are waking up to the scale of disruption and risk that it represents to almost all aspects of their lives. With time running out and the government not prioritising the issue, the Coalition was launched to connect and coordinate the broad range of individuals and organisations who are impacted or concerned about AI impact, and create momentum for meaningful action. Polls show that :
These concerns have been regularly echoed by top scientists in Canada, like Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, and by many in the leading AI labs themselves (Source). |
“With human intelligence staying the same, and AI getting better by the day, it is only a matter of time before AI outperforms us in all domains,” says Wyatt Tessari L'Allié, spokesperson for the Coalition. “Canadians face unprecedented disruption to their jobs, their kids' educations, and their daily lives, along with unacceptable risks to their safety. The Coalition is here to fight for the public interest and ensure our elected leaders act in time." |
Time to engage the political process The Coalition is spearheaded by AI Governance and Safety Canada, a nonpartisan not-for-profit and a leading policy voice on advanced AI. Mr. Tessari L'Allié testified before the House of Commons Industry Committee on the Bill C-27 AI & Data Act, explaining the overwhelming implications that accelerating advances in AI represent for Canadians. Despite testimonies like his and many others, the Bill was repeatedly delayed and died on the order paper. AI was underprioritised by elected officials from all parties in the last session of the House of Commons, with only 14 questions about AI during the Oral Question Period, compared to 141 for supply management. Of the $2.4B announced in Budget 2024, more than 95% went to accelerate AI development and pour fuel on the fire, with less than 5% of the funds invested in supporting impacted workers and advancing AI safety research. It became clear to Mr. Tessari L'Allié and many others that policy would not be enough and that public advocacy is needed to push elected officials to act in time.
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About the Coalition for Responsible AI The Coalition for Responsible AI is a community of people across Canada working to ensure that AI is safe, the disruption is managed, and everyone shares in the benefits. We call on our elected leaders to take strong action to defend the public interest at this critical moment in AI's development. |