Ottawa Rolls Out Voluntary Code of Conduct For AI as “Fear” Persists Over Its Use
Courtesy of Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Sep 27th, 2023
By Christopher Reynolds in Montreal
Some big players in Canada’s technology sector have signed on to a voluntary code of conduct for generative AI announced by the federal government Wednesday as anxiety persists over its proliferation and pace of development.
The self-imposed safeguards will “build safety and trust as the technology spreads,” Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne told a crowd of techies at the All In artificial intelligence conference in Montreal.
So far, executives from a dozen Canadian companies and organizations have signed on, including BlackBerry, OpenText, Cohere, Telus and the Canadian Council of Innovators, which represents more than 100 startups.
The document lays out measures businesses can take when working in advanced generative AI — the algorithmic engine behind chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can spit out anything from term papers to psychotherapy. Drawing criticism — and legal action in the U.S. — for potential breaches of privacy, equity and intellectual property, the software churns through vast troves of text, audio and visual data to produce new content.
The measures range from screening datasets for potential biases to assessing for potential “malicious use of the system.” They also align with six key principles that include equity, transparency and human oversight, worked out through a consultation process.
“We have witnessed technology advancing at what I would say is lightning speed,” Champagne said.
“The mission we should give ourselves is to move from fear to opportunities.”
Patricia is the Business Mentor and owner of Grow Vantage and a Past President of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. She applies over 30 years of business experience (from start-up to corporate) to mentor entrepreneurs. Since 2011, she has held over 6,500 coaching and training sessions in-person and online. Through Ask For Directions Training, her entrepreneurial training program (and parent company Grow Vantage), and as a business coach, she works with start-ups who are new (or who have lost traction) to design, launch and grow their businesses. Along with 20 other expert instructors she teaches strategies in marketing, sales, communications, and finance, as well as practical techniques to increase productivity, and manage their businesses. In other words, everything entrepreneurs need to learn to grow and run their businesses successfully, and avoid the costly mistakes they can't even see coming - that lead to delays in growth and getting stuck.