e-4555 (Science and technology)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• Increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems present both significant benefits and serious risks;
• Biased algorithms, misuse of intellectual property, and fake media already jeopardize our information spaces;
• Job disruption due to AI and weaponization of AI are growing threats to economic security and public safety;
• Resources within the AI industry are focused on advancing AI capabilities, such as creating ‘artificial general intelligence’ (AGI)—a theoretical yet widely considered achievable AI system that outperforms human capabilities at most tasks;
• Experts like Canadian Turing Award winners Dr. Geoffrey Hinton and Dr. Yoshua Bengio, and CEOs of leading AI companies, including OpenAI, warn that it is not yet known how to control and prevent misuse of this unprecedentedly powerful technology, resulting in a real possibility of catastrophic harm. Unfortunately, ethics and safety efforts receive little funding;
• The UK government has committed an initial £100M into their AI safety initiative, the Foundation Models Taskforce; and
• Governing the development of AI, preventing harmful applications of AI, and fostering international cooperation on AI are challenging issues that befall world leaders like the Government of Canada.