Canada is in an incredibly important window of time when it comes to regulating artificial intelligence. The pace of laws being adopted and proposed on AI has been staggering. Numerous binding laws on AI have been adopted in the European Union, the United States, and China in the last year, serving inspiration for other countries the globe. A handful of other countries have also proposed binding laws on AI in the last year, including Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, and Serbia.
—and the private-sector-privacy-focused Bill C-27 that contains it—are also of significant importance. also needs stronger accountability requirements when it comes to the data used to train AI systems. Let's take the field of genomic research to explain why this matters. Right now, white European people are over-represented in genomic datasets and studies relative to the world's population. Using AI for genomic research right now may perpetuate and exacerbate such biases, potentially resulting in both missed diagnoses and misdiagnoses for people of colour.