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Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali announced Friday morning the federal government has launched its first public AI register that outlines how artificial intelligence is being used or tested within federal departments.
In a news release, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat said the register currently includes input from 43 organizations and “features over 400 systems where AI is currently being explored, developed, implemented, or deployed.”
“By giving organizations a clearer view of AI activity across government, the register supports better planning, reduces duplication and helps departments identify opportunities to work more efficiently,” the news release added.
The first version of the register includes information about the purpose and description of each AI system, its intended or current use and whether it was built in-house or by a vendor.
It will continue to be refined and updated by federal organizations, the news release added.
The register is the latest step in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push to incorporate artificial intelligence into federal government operations, which he has claimed will make the public service more efficient.
Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, centre, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer, left, meet with Aidan Gomez, CEO of AI startup Cohere, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 15. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)At the end of September, the federal government said it would pilot an AI tool in six departments and agencies to help translate official languages for the public service — a move that prompted concerns the tool would not be able to capture nuances in the French language.
In the most recent federal budget, the Carney government announced it intends to set up an Office of Digital Transformation to identify and “scale technology solutions across the federal government — a generational opportunity for domestic innovators.”
The budget also announced that Shared Services Canada (SSC), in partnership with the Department of National Defence and the Communications Security Establishment, will develop a made-in-Canada AI tool which will be deployed across the federal government.
According to the budget, SSC will partner with leading Canadian AI companies to develop the internal tool.
The budget also outlined how some departments and agencies have identified ways to use AI technology to “achieve savings by streamlining workflows, reducing manual effort and optimising service delivery.”
For example, the Department of Justice will integrate AI, advanced analytics and automation tools to streamline tasks. Meanwhile, Transport Canada will use AI and automation and reduce costs of dedicated resources assigned to repetitive tasks.
Ottawa’s also proposing to allocate $25 million over six years, starting this year, to Statistics Canada to implement the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Measurement Program (TechStat), which will use data to measure how AI is being used by organizations and understand the technology’s impact on Canadian society.