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The Trump administration’s sweeping AI Action Plan, released last week, moves the global AI race into a new realm. It’s no longer just a race between OpenAI and Google; it’s a geopolitical contest that the world’s greatest tech power is doubling down on, as it seeks to influence (and dominate) the digital decades ahead.
Canada will need to move fast.
Here’s what stands out to me in the Trump policy:
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Jurisdiction. Big data (and AI) is inherently global and local. And now Trump wants to unshackle Big Tech from state-level regulations on AI. Mark Carney may soon face the same challenges with the provinces, as he tries to develop a “one economy” approach to so many things. Both Carney and Trump will face push back if and when the big platforms move into health and education data—seen to be subnational jurisdictions in both countries. But in very different ways, they will need to figure out how to balance individual, local, national and global, in an AI age.
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Ideology. Trump is aiming to “de-woke” AI models. I’m not sure how you do that, especially if you want to avoid some kind of version of thought police patrolling algorithms. I’m not suggesting AI models shouldn’t be accountable to public standards, including free speech. We just don’t know how to temper what we’ve unleashed, other than to prosecute developers under the law, just as we do with other forms of speech. Whatever your view, the Trump policy begins a new chapter in the politicization of tech.
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Investment. A gold rush is underway for data centres and will continue to draw billions of dollars. Trump is laser-focused on keeping and building them in the U.S. Canada can continue to feed that model with our energy, financial capital and data—or build our own competitive strategy. I recently talked with a major investor who is waiting (and waiting) for approval for a mega-billion-dollar Canadian data centre, while he’s moving ahead with similar state-side projects. Data waits for no government.
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Sovereignty. This may be the most challenging one for Canada. The U.S. and Chinese models, and clouds, have become so big and powerful it’s hard to imagine other countries creating anything to rival them. But there’s a chance for Canada. We have global tech leaders, in OpenText, Shopify and Cohere, and some competitive advantages in our own data sets, especially in health care. Is there a moonshot opportunity to build a Canadian rival? And will that require the same sort of techno-nationalist policies we’re seeing emerge in the U.S. and Europe.
As America aims to dominate AI, Canada will need our own human ingenuity to thrive in this new digital order.
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