Overview of AI Day in Ottawa

On March 4, 2019, industry and government representatives got together in Ottawa to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.

Over 70 vendors who qualified to supply government with leading-edge technology displayed their AI technology solutions, from forest fire modelling and prediction to detection of pandemics in the field of health care.

What I’d like to get out of AI Day, today, is really increasing the awareness and the desire around AI in the Government of Canada, because right now, people are aware of it, but everybody wants to really get a sense of what they can use it for.

People are eager to learn more about AI, because it is a new environment and a lot of people don’t know about it. Because we’ve specialized in the field for many years, we’re here to really teach people what they don’t know. So far it’s been great; people are engaging and you can see from their faces that they are interested to learn more about it.

I think the possibilities for AI are endless. We just have to make sure we’re doing it responsibly, we have to make sure we’re addressing the ethics and bias in it, and after that it’s “anything is possible.”

People are eager to learn more about AI, because it is a new environment and a lot of people don’t know about it. Because we’ve specialized in the field for many years, we’re here to really teach people what they don’t know.

I think the possibilities for AI are endless. We just have to make sure we’re doing it responsibly, we have to make sure we’re addressing the ethics and bias in it, and after that it’s “anything is possible.”

We would really like to use AI to create more transparency and citizen participation, and to make the federal government more accessible.

I quite like the idea of having a suppliers list in place and the idea of a platform where departments will be able to put their plans or problems and where companies will be able to exchange, discuss, and propose solutions that can then be developed in partnership with the departments.

The Government of Canada also released the Directive on Automated Decision Making, which was a great example of ongoing collaboration between industry, academia, government and international partners.

The directive will help the government realize AI’s potential while ensuring it is used responsibly and ethically.

You can learn more about our efforts to keep this important work moving forward on Canada.ca.