Opinion | Evan Solomon on what we need to protect our sovereignty, and having his birthday on 4/20

Huge advances in artificial intelligence are both thrilling and terrifying people all over the world. As a result, for the past 14 months, Canada has had its first ever minister responsible for AI: Evan Solomon, a former journalist, now rookie MP for Toronto Centre. His mission seems monumental. 

Steve Paikin: Since you are the first MP to have this portfolio, let’s start with what the prime minister has actually tasked you to accomplish.

Evan Solomon: Well, everyone knows that AI’s here, very much like the birth of the internet that I first documented when I started a magazine about technology (Shift magazine in 1992). And so, we have this geopolitical realignment happening at the same time as a technological revolution. We’ve got 150,000 Canadians working already in AI. And so the first task was, let’s support that. We need sovereign Canadian AI to make sure that we build it here, and that the jobs stay here and the innovation stays here, and we have some kind of control. But we also have AI that intersects with health care, governance, agriculture and transportation. And the ministry’s job is to facilitate the use of that. 

In which case, what are you trying to do?

If we don’t build the infrastructure here, we’re gonna have to rent it from somewhere else. It’s expensive. And if we don’t invest in the innovation here and build it here, we’re going to have to buy it from someone else. And that’s expensive. And if we don’t make the rules here, we’re gonna have to follow someone else’s. So what the prime minister wants me to do is build here, and invest and innovate here, and make the rules to benefit Canadians, so the jobs and the IP stay with Canadians. 

I’m sure you’ve been asked this before, but, have you ever delivered a speech that was written by AI? 

No, I have not! I don’t do that for a couple reasons. I’ve been a politician for 16 months, so the paint is pretty fresh here. It’s really important to have a sense of authenticity and connect with folks. And besides, I tend to speak without notes a lot and don’t hide behind talking points. Where AI is really helpful is in synthesizing material, in helping to create some options, then we can use it as a tool in strategic thinking. 

On balance, do you think AI is going to be more positive or negative for us? 

Go to any hospital, talk to doctors who say, using AI, we can pinpoint a tumour so much better that we can cut down the amount of chemotherapy that someone needs from 40 visits to five. That’s material. You can talk to emergency room doctors who are exhausted who say, we can see 30 per cent more patients now, because we have an AI scribe that’s accurate, describing the information a patient’s telling me, which at 2 in the morning, after a long shift, can be hard. I just got back from Manitoba, where I was on a farm where they were using AI to detect rot in giant bins of potatoes. That’s very valuable to farmers. If there’s a little rot, it can spoil a massive barrel. The margins on a farm can be 3.5 per cent, and they can get that yield up . That can make or break their season. 

Every technological advancement in the past certainly displaced jobs, but also created new, and usually more jobs, in the process. People are not saying that this time. McKinsey says current technologies could, in theory, “automate activities accounting for 57 per cent of U.S. work hours today.” That’s terrifying, isn’t it? 

So, I could go find experts that say we’ve created 150,000 new jobs already and added $200 billion to the economy. And others say AI is gonna take away all these jobs, and so-and-so laid off 10,000 workers, and they were all programmers. Let’s just everyone take a breath. We’re at the beginning of something that is a dramatic revolution. The anxiety levels are super high, and the hype levels are super high. So our job has been to be really pragmatic about this. When I released the new national AI strategy called “AI for All,” the principle here is that AI should serve Canadians, not the other way around. 

Well, I guess the problem is, some of the companies at the centre of all this have demonstrated they are not at all trustworthy. NDP leader Avi Lewis said the other day, “We are rushing into an unregulated experiment that is being run for the benefit, profit, and power of some of the just plain weirdest people that have ever been masters of the universe on planet Earth.” Does he have a point?

Yeah, he’s got a point in that there may be lots of masters of the universe that he doesn’t like, but he’s also missing the point, which is, you gotta build, right? Let’s just be practical. This technology is a tool. Our hospitals are using it. You don’t think our researchers are gonna use it? You don’t think our surgeons are gonna use AI? If we don’t build it here and build it right, then we’ve got to buy it from someone else who may not be doing it right. I agree with Avi in the sense that we gotta build this right. We are totally in alignment on that. But I would rather the jobs and the innovation economy stay here. And my job is not to burnish the reputation of one company or not. Those folks need to win trust on their own. I expect them to do that. So I’m not here to waive a flag for any of them. And if people don’t trust them — and there have been horrific incidents — then they gotta do a better job. We’re going to make sure that there’s regulation. I’ve tabled legislation to update our 26-year-old privacy legislation, protecting privacy and consumer data. I’m going to protect kids from deep fakes, so someone has the right to have that taken down, and go to a platform, and say, ‘I want that off your platform.’ We think when you’re collecting kids’ information, you should have a higher responsibility not to trade on it. This is empowering citizens so they can make sure that they’re protecting their kids, their families and themselves.

I appreciate your “build it here” argument, but there is a strong anti-data centre movement already picking up in this country. We’re seeing some jurisdictions that are already passing either resolutions or laws saying, ‘we don’t want your data centres here.’ What does that tell you? 

First of all, data centres have been around for decades and decades. 

Not of this scale, though. You’d acknowledge that, yes? 

True. The really big ones that can, for example, create enough power for the city of Ottawa, those haven’t been built yet. 

But those are the ones people are talking about. 

OK. The data centres (of the future) use what’s called “close looped water.” So, they recirculate the water. A gas guzzling car from the ‘50s is very different from a hybrid car today. We’re building hybrid cars today. They’ll use less water than a golf course. So, they’ve got to limit water use. Second, there’s a lot of heat that’s generated. That’s why they need to be cooled. So, what they want to do is recapture the heat that’s generated. And every one of these companies, if they’re building them, they make a pledge with communities not to pass on the cost of any power that they actually end up using to the ratepayers. And finally, investment in the community. What are the benefits? Well, there’s benefits in construction. In Alberta (north of Edmonton), that data centre will create 3,000 jobs to build, and hundreds of ongoing jobs. But if we don’t build it here, they’ll go to another country and we’ll have to buy it. So we need this for our sovereignty. 

Let me ask about you. You’re a former journalist. The record on journalists succeeding in politics is decidedly mixed. I wonder whether you consulted any other former journalists who became politicians before taking the plunge yourself?

Seamus O’Regan and I have known each other for a long time, so I talked to Seamus, because he was a minister. He and I both worked at CTV. The person whose riding was Toronto Centre was Marci Ien. And when she left, I ran in her riding, so I talked to Marci a fair bit.

What’s the best advice either of them gave you?

Listen to people and show up. Show up is so key. Show up locally. At the end of the day, you’re voted in by your community. So, even if you’re fortunate enough to become a minister, you’re elected by the people in your community. So, show up and listen.

Last question: I know when your birthday is … 4/20. Anybody who’s got a birthday on 4/20 has got to be a big dope smoker, right?

(Laughs)…. I gotta tell you something. I can’t even believe I’m gonna say this. I’m a super lightweight. I’m not a dope smoker. Do I occasionally have a drink? Absolutely. But when I was a kid, people were like, “4/20. That is Hitler’s birthday.” I’m a Jewish kid. So, I was super happy to have 4/20 mean something new, rather than that first horrible thing.