Canada’s new artificial intelligence strategy promises to write a fundamental right to privacy into law. In the same document, it commits Canada to 60 per cent of businesses using AI by 2034, projecting $200 billion in growth. 

Only one of those promises comes with a target the government can be held to, and the strategy shows why. The protections in it are built to make Canadians feel safe enough to use AI — but feeling safe is different from being protected. 

One can see the difference in how each safeguard is put together. Start with the plan’s goal. Its premise, which runs through the strategy, is that the benefits of AI come from using it. The goal is widespread adoption. People will not use a technology they distrust, so trust is needed to achieve it. The document says as much: safety is a requirement for trust and trust enables confident adoption. 

Whether the strategy can also keep AI safe is determined by whether it limits what a company is allowed to do, besides telling users what the company does. Its voluntary Trusted AI certificate illustrates this divergence.

The document explains that it intends to help people choose between products in the marketplace. A label like that sets no requirement a company must meet, and it says nothing about the products that don’t carry the label. 

The strategy also funds an AI Safety........

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