New federal research institute will study the dangers of AI

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OTTAWA — The federal government is opening a research center that will study the dangers of artificial intelligence technology.

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced the launch of Canada’s Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute in Montreal on Tuesday. He said the center will be important in building public trust in artificial intelligence technology.

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“If you want people to adopt it, they have to have confidence,” he said. “If adoption doesn’t happen, we will waste the incredible potential of many new technologies.”

The government says AI could be misused in election interference efforts, disinformation campaigns and cybersecurity breaches.

At a meeting in Soul in May, world leaders agreed to build a network of government-backed security institutions to advance research and testing of the technology. Champagne said Canada was one of the first countries to establish such an institute.

Canada’s Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute will work with similar organizations in other countries as part of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes, which will hold its first meeting in San Francisco next week.

Governments and global agencies have been working to design guardrails for AI, amid warnings from experts that the technology, which is already transforming daily life, could pose an existential risk.

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The center will be located in Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. It will receive $50 million from Ottawa over five years, part of the $2.4 billion in AI-related funding announced in this year’s federal budget.

The institute will work on government-led projects, focused on priorities such as cybersecurity and joint testing with other countries. The government will also fund research by Canadian and international experts through the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Elissa Strome, executive director of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, said global collaboration is essential because AI technology knows no borders.

Canada has been a leader in AI research for years, she said. “It’s the value that Canada brings to the global conversation, it’s this expertise and this leadership that we have in AI research.”

At the meeting in San Francisco, representatives from AI institutes around the world will look at emerging topics and opportunities for collaboration, she said.

“We hope to come away from that meeting with some ideas about what we want to focus on, at least to start with.”

Strome said there are already concerns and issues with the way AI is being deployed, including misinformation, disinformation and synthetic content such as deepfakes, but also opportunities to develop new technical approaches to identify or prevent false content.

– With additional reporting from The Associated Press

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