The federal government has signed a contract with a Canadian artificial intelligence company to identify areas where AI can strengthen its public services business.
Sophia Ouschlis, spokesman for Minister of Artificial Intelligence, Evan Solomon, said this would be seeing how the product could improve federal public services.
The deal sets out a “early stage collaboration” between the federal government and the Toronto-based tech company, she said. Cohere develops large-scale language models, a kind of generative AI focused on languages, and companies specialize in AI services for enterprises.
“The focus is on identifying where Cohere's Canada-built AI tools can improve public services. Make public services faster, smarter and safer. No formal deadlines are attached, but the government sees this as a priority and is moving to quickly explore real-world applications.
Ouslis said the agreement does not include a “financial component.”
In a blog post Tuesday, Cohere said it had signed a contract “to transform the public sector with secure and sovereign AI technology.”
“Accelerating AI adoption will bring about greater productivity and efficiency at scale to enhance public services and modernize operations,” he said.
According to a government news release, the agreement with Cohere includes considering building Canadian commercial capacity to use and export AI, but did not provide details on what the efforts would include.
Using artificial intelligence to increase the efficiency of public services was one of Prime Minister Mark Kearney's election promises. Kearney has also committed to reducing the size of public services, and most departments and agencies have since been asked to find program spending cuts of up to 15%.
According to a government news release, AI “may significantly improve the government's operations and services of Canadians,” while Ottawa is “taking advantage of this transformative technology power to build a vibrant Canadian technology sector.”
