Canadians concerned about job loss, privacy with AI, but hopeful it will make life easier: Report

A report by the Department of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) on Canadians’ views on artificial intelligence has found those surveyed are most concerned about job loss with AI replacing humans in the future, followed by privacy and security concerns. The survey is part of research that will be presented to the federal government’s advisory council on artificial intelligence in a final report providing evidence-based recommendations “for sustained public awareness efforts undertaken by the Government of Canada moving forward,” according to the summary of the report dated May 23. The report surveyed 1,222 Canadians, aged 18 years or older, in Nov. 2020. Almost three quarters said they are familiar or somewhat familiar with artificial intelligence, the report indicated. They most frequently believe that their browsing history, web activity, and Google data are being collected by AI, followed by personal information including age and face, as well as their shopping habits and purchase history, the report said. It found people are nearly seven times more likely to say the impact of AI in the country will be very positive in the future rather than very negative. As well, they are four times more likely to say the impact on themselves will be very positive versus very negative. There is some skepticism according to the report which claims nearly nine in 10 people think human involvement is important for AI-enabled systems and that a computer’s decision-making abilities are limited by how they are programmed. Additionally, more than two in three respondents think AI has the potential to cause harm to society. Those surveyed most frequently rate the problem-solving capabilities of AI as very good or good, while rating its ability to make ethical decisions in a particular context as poor or very poor, the report said. While those surveyed said they expect the impact of AI on all aspects of life to be positive, Canadians are most likely to express concern about its impact on law enforcement and labour, the report said. Earlier this year, it was found that U.S.-based company, Clearview AI, illegally scraped some three billion images of faces and corresponding biometric identifiers off of publicly accessible information on the internet such as social media. Users of the technology — in Canada mostly police — could then upload an image to be matched against the database, and then directed toward the original source of images. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), led by Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien -- who was reappointed for a one-year term last week -- had launched a pair of investigations into the technology and its alleged use by the RCMP last winter. Looking to the future, respondents are most concerned about job loss and AI replacing humans, followed by privacy, privacy security and hacking, and losing control of the AI and malfunction, the report said. Over the next five years, most said they expect AI will positively impact the manufacturing, transportation, and banking sectors, while few believe the technology will have the same positive impact on arts and culture or law enforcement. “Canadians’ attribution of the lowest positive score to the impact on arts and culture sector, combined with their lack of concern about a negative impact on this sector, poses an interesting dilemma that will be explored in the public deliberations following this research,” the report noted. However, respondents did not identify a single field in which the “perceived future impact of AI would be overall negative,” according to the report. Regarding uses for AI, the ISED survey respondents most often believed it would be used to assist in automated, repetitive work, followed by work in the medical field including diagnostics, and self-driving vehicles. Heading into the future, those surveyed most frequently believed that governments and academic organizations should take the lead on developing AI solutions -- and a majority said human involvement is required “in a variety of aspects related to AI development.” Overall, the survey found respondents are mostly hopeful that AI will make life easier and improve productivity while reducing errors, while mostly concerned about job losses. They are also hopeful about it generating improvements in medicine and health. For the most part, those who responded said they heard of AI through the news and internet, with 4.9 per cent and 4.6 per cent reported hearing of it through school or work, respectively. The results of the survey were statistically weighted by age, gender, and region using census information from Statistics Canada, the report said. When it announced plans for a series of online workshops on public perception of AI in March, ISED said it would build upon government surveys that took place in November. A statement issued by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne at the time suggested that insights garnered from those workshops in March and April could play a role in shaping future policymaking on artificial intelligence. In releasing its proposals for regulating artificial intelligence in November, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner recommended that Canadians be given the right to contest automated decisions -- such as judgements that may be made every day on things like loan applications and insurance premiums. The OPC recommendations additionally suggested that companies and organizations could be granted permission to use de-identified personal data without users’ consent for certain “socially beneficial” reasons and for “legitimate commercial purposes.” In exchange, they could face greater oversight from the commissioner. It also expressed an interest in allowing “the benefits of AI to be better achieved,” and to that end recommended changes to the ways that consent is sought from individuals in relation to organizations’ use of AI technologies. - Reporting by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Canadians concerned about job loss, privacy with AI, but hopeful it will make life easier: Report

News | June 7, 2021

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Canadians concerned about job loss, privacy with AI, but hopeful it will make life easier: Report

News | June 7, 2021

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Public broadcasters formally commit to addressing disinformation, news availability

Telesat deal good for Canada, Champagne tells INDU committee

Coordinated effort is ‘essential’ in tackling AI policy issues, says Canadian Digital Regulators Forum

Competition summit hears regulation, keeping talent at home are key to Canada’s standing on artificial intelligence

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us