NDP Leader Avi Lewis shared the following statement in response to the Carney government’s AI Strategy announcement today:

The Liberal government might as well have called its AI strategy “All in for AI”.

This is a document that is heavy on hype, but light on the right guardrails that we need to protect people – and to ensure that the benefits of the technology don’t just flow to a handful of tech giants and investors.

It proposes a massive boost to business adoption of AI, with no concern for the consequences this will have for workers, especially young workers who are already watching careers vanish before their eyes.

This government is imposing a world-changing technology on all of us without any public debate. Instead of putting in place strong regulations to safeguard workers, youth, privacy, and our water and energy supply, they prefer to “move fast and break things” as the Silicon Valley motto goes.

That’s why before rushing ahead, with no brakes, we need a robust regulatory framework. Every other industry in this country, from forestry to banking, is regulated. Yet somehow, when it comes to generative AI that is controlled by MAGA-aligned billionaires, the usual rules don’t apply.

I am pleased to see the government acknowledge the dangers of surveillance pricing in the strategy, which the NDP has been sounding the alarm on. But a vague commitment to protecting people’s personal information is not enough. We need a clear plan to ban this creepy practice once and for all.

New Democrats support the development of cutting edge technology. For AI, that looks like responsible machine learning with small, contained datasets and targeted applications.

We’re calling for a humans-first AI strategy. One that protects Canadian jobs, data and natural resources. Not a strategy that mimics the worst tendencies of AI chatbots: hallucinating benefits and flattering big tech CEOs by telling them exactly what they want to hear.