Canada’s AI imperative:
Overcoming
risks, building trust
AI has the potential to be the catalyst for an era of unprecedented innovation, progress, and prosperity. Yet Canadians still do not truly understand AI, or see how its benefits outweigh the risks. We heard concerns about AI’s impact on privacy, security, bias, consumer protection and more – and Canadians are looking to business and government leaders to provide answers and solutions to those questions. Left unaddressed, this lack of trust could have a serious impact on Canada’s future prosperity.
This report outlines five key perceptions Canadians have about AI and examines the root causes of their distrust. While there’s no question AI presents its fair share of risks, this report highlights that it is possible to develop AI that reflects Canadian values—and promotes prosperity for all.
Read Canada’s AI imperative: Overcoming risks, building trust to learn more.
Building and maintaining trust with Canadians
To help Canada and its businesses become trusted leaders in AI, we have identified five recommendations that address the concerns of Canadians and build trust in and understanding of AI.
values to the
forefront
create the right
controls and
incentives
machine-human
collaboration
and communicate
—continuously
literacy is on
the agenda
Key actions for businesses:
- Start with values and ethics
- Creative inclusive teams – and use inclusive data
Key actions for government:
- Act as a vocal leader and convener on global standards
Key actions for businesses:
- Proactively build oversight and accountability controls
Key actions for government:
- Ensure the regulatory environment promotes trust and innovation
- Create new legal frameworks for algorithmic accountability
Key actions for businesses:
- Retrain employees if AI is going to change their jobs
- Explore opportunities to redesign work to take advantage of AI and learning
Key actions for government:
- Provide support for lifelong learning
Key actions for businesses:
- Clearly articulate why AI is necessary
- Make privacy an ongoing conversation
Key actions for government:
- Engage the public and guide the conversation
Key actions for businesses:
- Build non-technical fluency among employees and executives
Key actions for government:
- Make AI literacy a priority
Canada’s AI imperative series
AI is expected to be one of the leading economic drivers of our time, and Canada has the opportunity to be a global leader. We have the research strength, talent pool, and startups to capitalize, but that’s not enough if we truly want to lead in an AI-driven world and shape what it might look like. True leadership is required—that means taking steps now to establish a world-class AI ecosystem in Canada. Deloitte multi-part series on Canada’s AI Imperative provides a platform on which to engage business and policy leaders about what it will take for our country to claim a leadership position in an AI-driven world and to explore different dimensions of what an AI prosperity strategy could look like.
Explore the first report from our series: From predictions to prosperity
Canada’s AI imperative: Public policy’s critical moment
Canada’s AI imperative: Start, scale, succeed
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At Deloitte, we believe AI has the power to improve Canadian organizations in transformative ways—and we’ll work with you to make your business better. Deloitte’s artificial intelligence practice, Omnia AI, leads all others in starting, enabling, accelerating, and sustaining the AI journey.
Talk to us. You’ll see the difference.
