The Federal Government has signed an agreement with a Canadian artificial intelligence company to identify areas where AI can improve public service operations.
COHER will analyze how their products can improve federal public services, said Sofia Ouslis, spokesman for the Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan Solomon.
The agreement establishes the “collaboration in the initial stage” between the federal government and the Toronto -based technology company, he said. COHERE develops large language models, a type of generative language centered on language, and the company specializes in AI services for companies.
“The approach is to identify where the tools of COHERE, built in Canada, can improve public services, making them faster, intelligent and safer. While there are no attached formal deadlines, the government sees this as a priority and is quickly moving to explore applications of the real world,” said Oouslis.
Ouslis said the agreement does not include a “financial component.”
Chere said in a blog post on Tuesday that he signed the agreement “to transform the public sector with our Segura and Sovereign Technology.”
“Accelerate the adoption of AI will offer mass profits of productivity and efficiency to improve public services and modernize operations,” he said.
A government press release also said that the agreement with COHER implies considering the construction of the commercial capacities of Canada to use and export AI, but did not provide details about what this effort will imply.
The use of artificial intelligence to increase the efficiency in public service was one of the electoral promises of Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney also promised to limit the size of the public service, and since then the majority of the departments and agencies that find cuts of programs expenses of up to 15 percent have been requested.
The government press release said that the AI “has the potential to significantly improve government operations and services for Canadians”, and that Ottawa is “seeking to take advantage of the power of this transformative technology while building a vibrant technological sector made in Canada.”
