Canada’s new AI strategy, "AI for All," aims to develop a responsible, safe, and sovereign AI industry and research community that serves all Canadians. The strategy is built on six pillars: Protecting Canadians and safeguarding democracy, Empowering Canadians, Powering shared prosperity, Building the Canadian sovereign AI foundation, Scaling Canadian AI champions, and Building trusted partnerships and global alliances.
Core Vision: The strategy envisions a Canada where AI is not a threat but a critical piece of technology that enhances everyday life for Canadians, driven by innovation and deployed with intention for the betterment of society. Trust is the north star of this strategy, with opportunity and sovereignty ensuring adoption creates benefits for Canadians now and in the future.
Current State of AI in Canada:
- Strengths: Canada has a strong digital sector (800,000 workers, $140 billion GDP contribution), a vibrant AI ecosystem with over 3,500 companies raising $37 billion in venture capital, and world-class research institutions (CIFAR, Amii, Mila, Vector).
- Weaknesses: Canada lags in AI adoption (only 12% of businesses use AI, compared to 29-42% in Nordic countries), has dependencies in sovereign compute capacity, chip fabrication, and cloud services, and faces an adoption gap, particularly among SMEs (only 8% have adopted AI).
- Opportunities: Canada has a highly educated workforce, deep capital markets, rich data assets in key sectors, and a clean and predictable electricity grid.
Key Pillars and Actions:
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Protecting Canadians and Safeguarding our Democracy:
- Modernize consumer privacy legislation and introduce online safety laws.
- Invest in the Canadian AI Safety Institute and create a Canada Trusted AI Certification program.
- Ensure Canadian AI infrastructure is safe and trustworthy through transparency, evaluation, and partnerships.
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Empowering Canadians:
- Create a National AI Literacy Initiative, offering entry-level AI training accessible to all Canadians, including 1 million post-secondary students and 3,000 educators.
- Ensure all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents.
- Support workers at every stage of their careers with AI training and education.
- Develop pro-worker, industrial AI technologies that augment human expertise.
- Support Indigenous leadership in AI and ensure AI reflects Canadian identity, culture, and inclusion.
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Powering Shared Prosperity:
- Accelerate AI adoption across Canadian SMEs through the LIFT program and Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative.
- Launch a new AI Missions Program with $200 million towards improving health outcomes.
- Transform public service delivery with AI through procurement and deployment of AI solutions.
- Build a world-leading supercomputer and enhance access to public compute for SMEs.
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Building the Canadian Sovereign AI Foundation:
- Invest in sovereign compute infrastructure, including a world-leading public supercomputer and expanded data centres.
- Unlock the power of data through the Health Sector Data Space and VITAL platform.
- Anchor world-class research talent in Canada by strengthening national AI institutes and attracting global talent.
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Scaling Canadian Champions:
- Establish a $500 million Canadian TechGrowth Fund to support AI companies' scale-up.
- Anchor Canadian foundation model capabilities and support their international growth.
- Champion leading Canadian AI companies like Cohere and LawZero.
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Building Trusted Partnerships and Global Alliances:
- Spearhead a multinational sovereign technology alliance with trusted allies.
- Advance open-source AI for resilience and choice.
- Expand international partnerships and AI collaboration, particularly in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East.
Outcomes:
- Protect Canadians against AI risks and online harms.
- Provide all Canadians with access to free AI literacy training.
- Ensure all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents.
- Create up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians.
- Help create up to 250,000 new jobs through AI adoption by 2031.
- Increase Canada’s business adoption of AI from 12% today to 60% by 2034.
- Support the unlocking of a 3% increase in GDP, representing nearly $200 billion in GDP gains.
- Launch a new AI Missions Program and build a world-leading supercomputer by 2031.
Canada’s AI for All strategy aims to leverage its strengths, invest in its emerging capabilities, and enter strategic partnerships to enhance its sovereignty, unlock productivity gains, and grow global champions in AI within Canada.
