Once the domain of a relatively narrow group of technologists, academics, and science fiction enthusiasts, the debate about the future of artificial intelligence has become mainstream. And a bipartisan group of lawmakers say Canada isn’t ready to take on the challenge yet.
The proliferation of AI as a subject of interest was fueled by the introduction of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot generated by OpenAI that can generate a wide range of text, code, and other content. ChatGPT uses content published on the Internet and training from users to improve its response.
According to Katrina Ingram, founder of the Ethically Aligned AI group, ChatGPT caused such a frenzy due to its novelty and effectiveness.
“I think AI-enabled infrastructure and technologies have been around for quite some time, but we haven’t actually faced them directly,” she told CBC Radio. The House In an interview that aired on Saturday.
CBC News: House17:16AI is changing everything. Can the government regulate it?
As artificial intelligence continues to evolve rapidly, MP’s group warns that it may be ill-prepared for the revolutionary changes ahead. Conservative MP Michelle Lempel Garner, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine Smith and NDP MP Brian Masse join Katherine Cullen to discuss what’s at stake as Parliament debates Canada’s first proposed regulation of AI .
Ingram said the technology raises a series of concerns. It’s about the lives of professionals such as artists and writers, privacy, data collection and surveillance, and whether chatbots like ChatGPT can be used as disinformation tools.
With the prevalence of AI as a problem, similar regulatory concerns are growing, and governments need to act now, Ingram said.
“We’re battling these technologies right now, so it’s really essential that the government can pick up the pace,” she told host Katherine Cullen.
That sentiment — the need for speed — is shared by three MPs across party lines watching the progress of the AI issue. Conservative MP Michel Lempel Garner, NDP MP Brian Masse and Liberal Nathaniel Erskine Smith also attended. The House for an interview that aired on Saturday.
NDP industry commentator Masse noted that oil has fundamentally changed economic and geopolitical relationships, bringing many benefits but also disasters: “This is huge. This is the new oil, and AI could do the same.”
A matter of both speed and content
Three members of Congress are watching Bill C-27 closely. Bill C-27, the bill currently being debated in the House of Representatives, contains Canada’s first federal regulation on AI.
However, lawmakers expressed concern that the bill might not be ready in time and would require changes.
“The law was introduced last June, six months before ChatGPT was released, but it seems outdated. It’s like doing it,” says Rempel Garner. She added that it would be wrong to keep the AI debate away from Congress and split it among regulators.
“First, I think we need to get a consensus that legislation alone is not enough,” Masse said.
Still, Rempel Garner is optimistic that Congress could move quickly to address regulation, especially given the fact that AI as an issue has so far not been polarized in a partisan direction. said it was targeted. Erskine-Smith expressed similar optimism.
“I think there’s a lot of potential for meaningfully addressing problems. The question and the challenge is when to address those challenges,” Erskine-Smith said.
Timing is an issue, but so is what the law is and what the law is. Erskine-Smith said there hasn’t been much indication of what the regulation will look like in practice and how it will currently address substantive issues with AI.
The three MPs strike a balance between usefulness and danger, the idea that AI may subtly limit the range of choices available to people, and the relatively untested We have identified several key concerns, including the risks posed by AI products.
“[AI technologies] Rempel Garner likens the current situation to an unregulated pharmaceutical industry with no research ethics or clinical trials.
Rempel Garner proposed a move away from a focus on punitive measures and toward a set of principles that will guide future AI regulation. She also said that the tech industry cannot regulate itself, so governments and wider society must play a role.
“Right now they’re racing to deploy. They’re not trying to think about broader societal implications,” Lempel Garner said.
Masse said he hopes the process will be open to more parliamentarians. He added that given the rapid pace of technological advancements in AI and the relatively slow pace of institutional reforms, AI poses significant challenges to the way Canadian institutions currently function.
“We put a lot of faith in our institutions that weren’t actually built to do this,” Masse said.
