Canada unveils national AI strategy

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday launched the country's new national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, reported Xinhua. The strategy, named "AI for All," targets a boost to Canada's economy by nearly 200 billion Canadian dollars (about 144 billion U.S. dollars) to create 250,000 new AI-related jobs over the next five years, said a news release on the prime minister's official website. It also aims to increase AI adoption from just over 12 percent to 60 percent by 2034, said the release, adding that a national AI literacy initiative will also be established to offer entry-level AI training for all Canadians. Small and medium-sized businesses will get help adopting AI to support workers, raise productivity, and drive breakthroughs in priority sectors, such as health, energy, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, robotics, and government services, it said. The strategy will build a world-leading public AI supercomputer and invest in sovereign compute and cloud infrastructure, with a focus on high-performance computing that is sustainable and aligned with Canada's clean energy expansion, robust environmental standards, and tangible benefits for local communities, said the release. Canada currently has three national AI institutes: the Vector Institute in Toronto, Ontario; Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute in Montreal, Quebec; and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute in Edmonton, Alberta.