The race to dominate the generative artificial intelligence (AI) sector is on. Google, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic are the four main names in the running. Four American companies which prove that, despite the billions of dollars invested, Canada is not part of the movement.
Anthropic has just announced that Claude AI, its rival product to ChatGPT and Bard (from OpenAI and Google respectively), will now be offered in 95 countries around the world. The Californian company somehow confirms that generative AI has moved in recent days from the stage of emerging technology to that of a business solution ready to be marketed.
The same thing has been observed since the beginning of the summer at Google, which announced the availability of its own generative AI, Bard, in just over 200 countries around the world.
Bard, Claude AI and ChatGPT perform essentially the same functions: the user can ask questions of all kinds, submit mathematical equations or ask to complete certain computer tasks, and the AI produces a response that is as accurate as possible. What sets Claude AI apart from the other two is that the company that created it, Anthropic, presents it as a “safe and responsible” alternative.
Canada left aside?
Anthropic’s rapid AI expansion bears some similarities to Google’s. For example, in both cases, Canada and the countries of the European Union which are working on a legislative framework plan for AI are excluded from the countries where their technology is offered.
What seems to be a problem with Canada is its future Artificial Intelligence and Data Act. The legislation currently under consideration was written to balance the need of technology companies to innovate and the public’s desire to feel safe. Not yet knowing what to do, these companies are simply avoiding marketing their technology on Canadian soil.
This rapid expansion of AI applications from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI now has experts fearing that Canada is missing out on the next big wave of innovation.
“There is a good part of the community of tech entrepreneurs in Canada who think so,” says Guillaume Thérien, partner at the Montreal venture capital fund Triptyq Capital. “Canada claims to be an AI Eldorado, but we can already see the delay in investment. »
Canada claims to be an AI El Dorado, but we can already see the delay in investment
One thing is certain, this commercial development is coming faster than expected for Anthropic. The young company was founded in San Francisco in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, who were uncomfortable with the company’s practices.
She therefore created her own technology, Claude AI, which aims to be more secure. One of the features that sets it apart from ChatGPT is that its error correction is enhanced by AI rather than humans. This would thus avoid introducing new biases into the interpretation of the data.
Titan fight
Anthropic is also reassuring about its technology: its expansion is being done “responsibly”, she assures. The company still received four billion US dollars from Amazon at the end of September to make this pivot towards accelerated international commercial expansion. Because Anthropic is rubbing shoulders, in its project, with players with deep pockets.
Not only do we risk falling behind, but during this time, the technology will develop outside the country. We could end up having practices from elsewhere imposed on us.
OpenAI is strongly supported by Microsoft, which already integrates several variations of its generative AI into several of its software intended for both businesses and the general public. Google has also begun to position PaLM, its automated language understanding and generation model, in its cloud business solutions and in some of its consumer products.
The rapid adoption of these new technologies has clearly created excitement. The risk for Canada, where investment in AI mainly comes from the public sector, is therefore not reaping the dividends of this movement, concludes Guillaume Thérien.
“Not only do we risk falling behind, but during this time, the technology will develop outside the country. We could end up having practices from elsewhere imposed on us,” he concludes.