Canadian Heritage committee  We really need to embark on a societal project about this issue. Perhaps we should intervene at schools in all the provinces. I don't know the answer to your question, but it's important to point out two things. First, we have to look at how we teach children to use new technologies.

Canadian Heritage committee  There's an expression in French that says, le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. I think that having work done on this issue currently is great. Technology is not going away. AI is not going away, and more work is going to be coming down the pipeline. Hopefully, you as legislators will be able to do that work quickly enough to catch up.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think I wouldn't be prescriptive on an amendment for this specific bill, but I do think there should be work done around that. If it's a future bill, a report or even just working with regulators in order to be able to do something like that, I think that would be really great.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's correct. First, I'd like to make a small clarification. I don't have the title “master” yet. I have six months to go before I can get it. With respect to your question, I think that's correct, yes. It's not really realistic to think that every single person who has a deepfake photo circulating somewhere on the Internet is going to go through the whole process of challenging it in court.

Canadian Heritage committee  If that's possible, then platforms should do it. Platforms are already testing AI systems to perform content moderation. I think they are already looking at nudity.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not looking to be extremely prescriptive, but I think that, yes, 100%, it would be beneficial for the victims to have that support, wherever it comes from. I think the House of Commons has the leadership to do something around that—coordinating, funding or finding ways to make it more accessible to the public.

Canadian Heritage committee  That would certainly be an option. In fact, I believe that all the options you've given are good. Schools have a role to play, since it's the physical location where there's a lot of social interaction. They know the students and the youth who socialize. In my opinion, platforms also have a role to play in educating the people who use them to distribute or even create material.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I do. In addition, it's not that everyone needs legislation to counter this problem, but rather that the places where these companies are based need legislation to stop this.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can't speak for the platforms, and I'm not here to represent them. However, I think it would be beneficial for everyone to ensure that these types of technologies are not readily available. To preserve their reputation, I think these platforms would want to work on that. We're already seeing them take steps to remove this type of content when they see that there's an issue.

Canadian Heritage committee  Tell them that over the next year, you're going to work to make sure that this will no longer be a problem and that they will not be victimized using these technologies.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's why I'm so afraid of these technologies. You can no longer take photos of yourself to give to your boyfriend or a friend, for example. It's online and you're completely vulnerable, because you don't have the power to take it down. We need to show leadership on this problem, and it's not just a matter of legislating.

Canadian Heritage committee  We talked a little bit about that in our article. There really are cases where people—as you say, ordinary people—have been victims since 2017. So this is not a new phenomenon. There are also a lot of articles in the newspapers that show this is growing in schools. We read a report in December that at a school in Winnipeg, some 40 young girls had been victimized using these technologies.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can take this one first. As all the witnesses today talked about, it's a very good step in the right direction. We are here to showcase that this is a big issue and it needs to have further steps. As you said, if there's more work we can do to protect, specifically—as we talked about—children, women and schoolgirls from this technology, it should be done.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I echo everything my colleague Chloe said. Also, we feel a bit desperate when we see this: If you search “deep AI”, “nude AI” or anything like that, they are so easily accessible. It just pops up on Google. You put in a picture, pay three dollars and you're able to generate massive numbers of deepfakes of an individual—or many individuals, if you choose.

Canadian Heritage committee  We will if possible, yes.