Have no fear though they are going to save us with AI . Had to copy/paste. No link available. Vague , well yes . Naive, certainly. Maybe they can finally fix their employee pay system which was rolled out in 2016 . There are STILL at least 133,000 affected. Anyway make of this what you will.... no mention of cost which to be honest I'd rather not know.
Speaking at the Liberal national convention in Montreal over the weekend, Prime Minister Mark Carney continued his uncritical embrace of artificial intelligence technologies. To cheers from the assembled Liberals, he promised “AI for all.”
Here’s the quote in context:
When we build physically, we’re building inclusively, sustainably, and in solidarity. And these same values must hold when we build virtually, because AI — artificial intelligence, the defining technology of our era — is arriving and the question is not whether AI will transform our lives. It will. The question is whether it will improve the lives of all Canadians, or benefit only some.
Our goal is AI for all, AI governed by Canadian values, AI accountable to Canadians, AI that serves Canadians. AI for all can make the jobs of Canadian workers more rewarding, and done right — and we must do this right — AI in health care can mean shorter wait times and better service. AI in education can meet every child where they are, and AI in government can mean a government that works better for you.
As with many AI-related promises, this one doesn’t define what Carney means by AI — a term that can encompass everything from chatbots and text summaries to data analysis. It can refer to coding tools, apps that identify birds and plants, tools decoding and translating ancient languages, text transcription, video generation, and on and on and on.
Maybe that’s what Carney means when he says “AI for all” — that these are multifaceted tools that can be made useful in many different fields. But if the term is so broad it becomes meaningless, you might as well say a computer for all, or a phone for all. Or maybe a toolbox for all.
(I think that’s a great idea. Everyone starting off on their own should have a good toolbox stocked with the basics.)
Beyond definitions though, this is exactly the kind of meaningless promise we have come to expect from vague AI boosterism. It isn’t coming, it’s already here. The question is not whether or not it changes our lives. It will. The issue is settled. There is an inevitability to it all. So, rather than having a debate on fundamental issues, we’re reduced to making sure that our AI is particularly Canadian, and serves all Canadians.
This is classic federal Liberal Party rhetoric, of course. Capitalism, but nicer. Just don’t look too hard at all the massive cuts. And as for the health care promise, that’s long been the best way to sell Canadians on anything.
I have no doubt machine learning can help improve health care delivery. In fact, I’m interviewing an industrial engineer with Nova Scotia Health this afternoon, and this is one of the things I’m going to ask her about. I’ve also spoken with industrial engineers in the past, who have told me about how they are using machine learning to make emergency departments more responsive, and to provide other health care improvements.
But that is a far cry from “AI for all.” There is plenty of evidence of AI making workers’ jobs worse, if not outright eliminating them. In many cases (translation and graphic design, to name two) the AI tools do a worse job than humans but bosses don’t care because it saves them money.
Is AI making government work better? We’ll have to wait for an assessment of things like the new CRA chatbot. It certainly doesn’t seem to be making immigration work better, with
stories like that of graduate student Kémy Adé, whose permanent residency application was rejected after an AI-led review of her file got her job responsibilities wrong.
And Carney’s claim that AI in education “can meet every child where they are” is beyond depressing. You know who can meet children where they are really, really well? Teachers.
As I was writing this, I was thinking ‘boy, will I look like a fool if this turns out that this video of Carney is a fake itself.’ It was posted to Bluesky, and who knows? So I navigated over to
CPAC, where I could watch Carney’s entire address and make sure it was real. If you are interested in watching the AI bit, it comes at around the 52-minute mark.
One under-discussed impact of all the AI-generated texts and songs and videos is the low-key stress of constantly wondering if whatever you’re looking at is real, and, I suppose, longer term, what these tools will mean for our definition of what is real.
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