(OTTAWA) Canada’s intelligence service is warning that outsiders will turn to espionage and interference tactics to target Canada’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says in a recently released brief that countries like China and Russia can get interested in Canada’s AI through any means available, including state-sponsored investment. and the use of secret agents.
The analysis by the federal agency’s Intelligence Assessment Service was completed in July 2021, but only recently released to The Canadian Press in response to a freedom of information request filed in October of that year.
Canada’s technological innovation and resulting economic progress are vulnerable to foreign forces, we learn.
The CSIS says, for example, emerging artificial intelligence capabilities are seen as key to developing ways to reduce plastic in the oceans, finding a vaccine to treat the next pandemic, stemming polluting emissions that cause climate change, and finding safe navigation methods for autonomous driving of automobiles.
The analysis notes that artificial intelligence is a priority for Canada, seen as essential to national goals of innovation and prosperity.
The brief, however, states that “many other countries, including hostile state actors, have established their own national AI strategies and goals, and that some of these countries, particularly China and Russia, will use espionage and foreign-influenced activities to advance their national interests at the expense of Canada. »
As a result, artificial intelligence has been reflected in the federal government’s intelligence priorities for several years, according to CSIS.