(Quebec) Artificial intelligence (AI) will be used more and more in ministries, where several positions could also disappear.
This is what the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Éric Caire, declared Thursday at a press conference in Quebec. It followed up on the report from the Innovation Council tabled on February 5.
The “Ready for AI” report recommends launching “without delay” the work which will lead to the adoption of a framework law dedicated to governing the development and deployment of AI in society.
Even if the government is still considering how to regulate this sector, it will deploy three AI integration pilot projects by the end of spring, announced Mr. Caire.
“We will start with smaller projects which do not affect essential services, and which are low risk, until we have more formal supervision and, above all, a greater level of expertise,” he said. he declared.
Quebec wants to automate the processing of civil servants’ insurance forms, as well as the invoicing process, in addition to creating a conversational agent (chatbot) on the “Data Quebec” portal.
If the pilot project is successful, this chatbot could appear on other government sites.
This is because “repetitive, low added value” processes can be automated to “free up employees” who will devote themselves to “higher value” tasks, explained Sarah Gagnon-Turcotte, director of the Center of Expertise in government artificial intelligence.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Minister Caire is closely linked to what he himself described last year as a “fiasco” of the launch of SAAQclic.
For example, automating the invoicing process could save 85 work days in an administrative unit. “You can imagine the potential for scaling,” she illustrated.
“I call it the great project of government efficiency,” declared Minister Caire, who was criticized last year for what he himself described as a “fiasco” at the Society of Quebec automobile insurance (SAAQ).
At the height of the crisis, queues grew longer at several SAAQ service points due to the transition to the SAAQclic computer system, which experienced technical difficulties.
“I understand that SAAQclic has captured the imagination,” Mr. Caire defended on Thursday. I am fully aware of the reputational damage that this story has caused to the government of Quebec.
“But what I want to say to citizens is that the government of Quebec, when we look at all of what is being done there, has demonstrated that it is entirely capable of delivering projects of scale,” he added.
According to him, 315 information resources projects were delivered in 2023-2024, compared to 218 the previous year.
5000 positions
The use of AI risks leading to a “reduction in positions”, recognizes Éric Caire, who even sees it as a way for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) to fulfill its 2018 electoral promise to cut 5,000 positions in the public service .
Six years later, the CAQ government has still not achieved this objective.
“It is certain that the integration of AI will shake up the portrait of work in Quebec and in the Quebec government,” warned Mr. Caire on Thursday.
“As you know, it is a promise from our government to reduce the size of the State by 5,000 positions. We think that in the coming years, there will be 20,000 retirements.
“We are entirely capable of reconciling the integration of AI, our ability to support our employees in this transition in a respectful manner […] and, through attrition, reduce the number of positions according to the promise we made,” he maintained.
If the reduction in the number of civil servant positions “may be part of the consequences” of the AI project, “this is not the main objective”, clarified Mr. Caire.
It is also possible, according to him, to reduce the size of the State thanks to AI without harming the delivery of public services.