Canada has announced plans to invest $1.76 billion (2.4 billion Canadian dollars) from its federal budget to bolster its artificial intelligence (AI) sector. The government aims to maintain Canada’s competitive edge in AI by supporting startups, medium-sized businesses, and research firms. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau believes that the rapid advancement of generative AI will unlock significant economic potential, improving productivity and reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks. The investment package will allocate $1.47 billion to develop computing capabilities and other AI-related infrastructure through the newly established AI Compute Access Fund. An additional $147 million will be dedicated to AI startups in various industries such as agriculture, clean technology, healthcare, and manufacturing. $73.5 million will be given to small and medium-sized AI scale-up companies to enhance productivity.
Trudeau emphasized that AI has already driven progress in drug discovery, energy efficiency, and housing innovation in Canada. To address the impact on workers in industries most at risk of losing jobs to generative AI, the government will allocate $36.8 million under the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program for retraining and reskilling initiatives across different sectors. The film and animation industries are particularly vulnerable, according to a report from consultancy firm CVL Economics. An additional $36.8 million will be used to establish the Canadian AI Safety Institute, which will focus on promoting the safe development and deployment of AI technologies.
Canada takes pride in being the first country to introduce a national AI strategy with the launch of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy in 2017. The goal of this strategy is to drive AI adoption through research and commercialization. The AI market in Canada is currently valued at approximately $7.4 billion, while the United States has a market worth around $106 billion. As part of its strategy, Canada has been actively recruiting emerging AI firms from the European Union to strengthen its standing in the global AI landscape. Notably, one of Canada’s significant AI startups, Tenstorrent, collaborated with South Korean manufacturing giant Samsung to bring the next generation of AI chiplets to the market. Tenstorrent secured a $100 million funding round led by Samsung and automotive manufacturer Hyundai.
This money should be used to support the arts and culture sector, not AI.
AI is just going to replace human jobs. This investment is going to hurt the workforce.
AI is just going to take over and control everything. This investment is a mistake.
The government should be investing in infrastructure and improving our cities, not AI.
Another example of the government wasting money on unnecessary projects.