Hon. Katherine Hay: Honourable senators, happy Tuesday and remember to wear pink tomorrow for Pink Shirt Day.
Today, my statement is on something we all have a very vested interest in. Before I go on, what strikes me about you all is your extraordinary smarts and your ability to move through incredibly complex things, bringing unique perspectives, creativity and curiosity. You strengthen legislation, ask hard questions and help Canada navigate through a changing world. Colleagues, we are living through extraordinary change in just about everything.
Today, I am speaking about artificial intelligence, or AI, reshaping global markets, redefining productivity, transforming labour, testing national security and challenging policy assumptions. Three committees in this chamber are studying AI. Every committee has it on its mind. Legislation is coming our way.
With so much respect for all our knowledge and learnings, I suspect we are on different playing fields, some elite — dare I say Olympic level — and some Little League, where I happily play with AI. With that reality, I’m proud to announce the launch of a parliamentary briefing series entitled AI Explained for parliamentarians from the Senate and the House and their staff. It’s four sessions, four months, four topics — things we are all talking about here, at home, at dinner parties, everywhere.
First, in March, it’s basically AI Explained with Armughan Ahmad, well-known global AI tech and Canadian founder of companies; and Tyler Anderson, CEO of Disruptive Edge, a company that goes into the biggest companies to get them AI ready, like Walmart, TELUS and RBC.
In April, stay tuned for AI and National Security, Sovereignty and Governance, Infrastructure with Janice Stein from the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy; and Shannon Bell, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer of OpenText.
In May, there’s AI Skilling — which I understand is not upskilling — and Labour with Sabrina Geremia from Google; Rola Dagher, former global channel chief at Dell Technologies; and Lisa Zarzeczny from Elevate.
In June, we are going to top it off with Canada’s Play to Win with some of Canada’s biggest players. It will be a dialogue about investment, commercialization, scale and leadership in the global AI stratosphere. Here is what I know to be true: First of all, stay tuned and join me because sober second thought should never mean a steady state. It’s just not an option. Thanks so much.