Feds to Spend $2.4 Billion to Boost Artificial Intelligence Sector

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Sunday a whopping $2.4 billion investment plan from the upcoming 2024 Budget to enhance Canada’s position in artificial intelligence. The 2024 Budget will be revealed on April 16.

The plan looks to stimulate job creation within the AI industry, helping the development and adoption of AI technologies, and to ensure responsible implementation across various sectors.

The main $2 billion investment will be for compute capabilities and infrastructure. This will support the country’s top AI researchers, startups, and scale-ups, that will result in the creation of the Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy. This strategy looks to create domestic AI infrastructure, drawing more global investments, talent, and helping Canadian businesses expand globally.

Next, $200 million will be allocated through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies to encourage AI startups and grow AI integration within key sectors such as agriculture, clean technology, healthcare, and manufacturing.

“AI has the potential to transform the economy. And our potential lies in capitalizing on the undeniable Canadian advantage. These investments in Budget 2024 will help harness the full potential of AI so Canadians, and especially young Canadians, can get good-paying jobs while raising our productivity, and growing our economy,” said Trudeau in a statement.

“This announcement is a major investment in our future, in the future of workers, in making sure that every industry, and every generation, has the tools to succeed and prosper in the economy of tomorrow,” added the Prime Minister.

Generative AI models are growing at a fast pace led by the likes of OpenAI and its ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, for example. It looks like Canada wants a homegrown competitor.

To help small and medium-sized businesses in scaling up and boosting productivity, $100 million will be invested in the NRC IRAP AI Assist Program.

Acknowledging possible job losses due to AI advancements, the feds are setting aside $50 million for the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program, which will retrain workers in industries likely to be disrupted by AI.

The spending doesn’t stop there, as a new Canadian AI Safety Institute will be created for $50 million to promote the safe development and deployment of AI tech.

The 2024 Budget as part of this AI plan will also provide $5.1 million to the Office of the AI and Data Commissioner, “to help ensure Canadians are protected from potential risks by ensuring the responsible adoption of AI by Canadian businesses.” These announcements don’t mention any specifics but one thing’s for sure, $2.4 billion is huge investment.

Last year, the feds created an AI Code of Conduct that was slammed by critics for being “secretive” in its approach and how it came to be.

These AI announcements we’re hearing about sound like they are part of a federal election campaign, with the next election coming in October 2025. When the 2024 Budget is announced in a week, let’s see what the federal government will do when it comes to tackling telecom affordability in Canada.