The Senate resolved into a Committee of the Whole in order to receive the Honourable Evan Solomon, P.C., M.P., Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, to consider the subject of artificial intelligence.

Senator Cuzner: Thank you very much, minister. It is great to see you.

Mr. Solomon: It is good to see you, sir.

Senator Cuzner: You mentioned that, even with all the positives, with social media and AI, there are still a number of real challenges and potential harms, especially for young people. I followed last weekend’s Liberal convention. I guess old habits die hard. I saw two resolutions passed, the first calling for a ban on the use of AI chatbots for anybody under 16 years of age, and the second calling for a ban on social media for those under 16.

In the development of government regulations on platforms for safety and privacy features, as well as “deepfakes,” you spoke about a “pragmatic balance.” Could you share with us what you see as being a pragmatic balance, especially as it applies to children?

Mr. Solomon: First of all, senator, it is great to see you. I appreciate the work you’re doing here and in every single chamber in the precinct.

Senator, protecting children is the core. I’m a father, so I say this personally and as a matter of our mandate as government officials: We have to make sure we protect all citizens, but we have to make sure our children are safe. We’ve seen horrific issues, like Tumbler Ridge. That’s just one case — a tragic case. We know the harms of online behaviour; all of us have seen the impacts it has had on our children, such as loneliness and alienation. This is something I’m discussing very closely with my colleague Marc Miller. Online harms will fall more under his auspices, but we’re talking about AI chatbots and transparency legislation. We will look at that and where that would fall. We’re looking at things like bans.

When you’re making bans, you have to be careful that you’re not doing unanticipated harm to some communities. We’ve heard from rural communities and Indigenous communities that social media is very important because of isolation. I’ve heard this in my riding: The 2SLGBTQIA+ community is saying that people are physically bullied at school, and the only place they find a community of like-minded people has been online, and it has saved their lives. God forbid we take away an online community from a trans child like that who is bullied, and they go back to a physical environment where they’re not comfortable, and there’s self-harm there.

I will just say that we are taking these issues very seriously. There is a legitimate and widespread view that we have to make sure that we protect our children from social media harms, but how do we verify the age, how do we enforce and how do we make sure, by the way, especially when it comes to AI, what the scope of it is? Does it capture video games where you can chat? Does it make sure that our young people have access to technology so that when they’re 16 or 17 — what happens to a generation who might never have been exposed to that? Are they behind kids in Singapore? We have to make sure that we find a right balance.