Trudeau announces billions to build Canada’s AI capacity [Video]

Ottawa –

The Liberal government is setting aside $2.4 billion in the upcoming budget to build capacity in artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Sunday.

The bulk of that — $2 billion — is going into a fund that will aim to provide access to computing capabilities and technical infrastructure.

Trudeau made the announcement at a Montreal AI firm as part of a pre-budget tour.

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He said the government will begin consulting with industry soon on a new AI Compute Access Fund and an accompanying strategy to grow the sector in Canada.

“We want to help companies adopt AI in a way that will have positive impacts for everyone,” Trudeau said, adding that $200 million will go toward boosting the adoption of AI in sectors like agriculture, health care and clean technology.

The government plans to launch a $50-million AI safety institute to protect against what it calls “advanced or nefarious …