Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hello. My name is Elissa Strome. I am the executive director of the pan-Canadian AI strategy at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, CIFAR.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with the committee today.
CIFAR is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together brilliant people across disciplines and borders to address some of the most pressing problems facing science and humanity. Our programs span all areas of human discovery.
CIFAR's focus on pushing scientific boundaries allowed us to recognize the promise of an idea that Geoffrey Hinton came to us with in 2004—to build a new CIFAR research program that would advance the concept of artificial neural networks. At the time, this concept was unpopular, and it was difficult to find funding to pursue it.
Twenty years later, this CIFAR program continues to put Canada on the global stage of leading-edge AI research and counts Professor Hinton, Professor Yoshua Bengio—who is here with us today—Professor Richard Sutton at the University of Alberta and many other leading researchers as members.
Due to this early foresight and our deep relationships, in 2017, CIFAR was asked to lead the pan-Canadian AI strategy. We continue to work with our many partners across the country and across sectors to build a robust and interconnected AI ecosystem around the central hubs of our three national AI institutes: Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal and the Vector Institute in Toronto. There are now more than 140,000 people working in the highly skilled field of AI across the country.
However, while the pan-Canadian AI strategy has delivered on its initial promise to build a deep pool of AI talent and a robust ecosystem, Canada has not kept up in our regulatory approaches and infrastructure. I will highlight three priorities for the work of this committee and ongoing efforts.
First is speed. We cannot delay the work of AI regulation. Canada must move quickly to advance our regulatory bodies and processes and to work collaboratively, at an international level, to ensure that Canada's responsible AI framework is coordinated with those of our partners. We must also understand that regulation will not hinder innovation but will enhance it, providing greater stability and ensuring interoperability and competitiveness of Canadian-led AI products and services on the global stage.
Second is flexibility. The approach we take must be able to adapt to a fast-changing technology and global context. So much is at stake, with the potential for AI to be incorporated into virtually every type of business or service. As the artificial intelligence and data act reflects, these effects can have a high impact. This means we must take an inclusive approach to this work across all sectors, with ongoing public engagement to ensure citizen buy-in, in parallel with the development and refinement of these regulations.
We also must understand that AI is not contained within borders. This is why we must have systems for monitoring and adapting to the global context. We must also adapt to the advances and potentially unanticipated uses and capabilities of the technology. This is where collaboration with our global partners will continue to be key and will call upon the strengths of Canada's research community, not only in ways to advance AI safety but also in the ethical and legal frameworks that must guide it.
Third is investment. Canada must make significant investments in infrastructure, systems and qualified personnel for meaningful AI regulation when used in high-impact systems. We were glad to see this defined in the amendments to the act.
Just like those in the U.S. and the U.K., our governments must staff up with the expertise to understand the technology and its impacts.
For Canada to remain a leader in advancing responsible AI, Canadian companies and public sector institutions must also have access to the funding and computing power they need to stay at the leading edge of AI. Again, the U.S., the U.K. and other G7 countries have a head start on us, having already pledged deep investments in computing infrastructure to support their AI ecosystems, and Canada must do the same.
I won’t pretend that this work won't be resource-intensive; it will be. However, we are at an inflection point in the evolution of artificial intelligence, and if we get regulation right, Canada and the world can benefit from its immense potential.
To conclude, Canada has tremendous strengths in our research excellence, deep talent pool and rich, interconnected ecosystem. However, we must act smartly and decisively now. Getting our regulatory framework, infrastructure and systems right will be critical to Canada's continued success as a global AI leader.
I look forward to the committee's questions and to the comments from my fellow witnesses.
Thank you.