Prime Minister Mark Carney has launched Canada's National Council on Artificial Intelligence, a 13-member advisory body that will guide the country's AI strategy. The council was announced on October 2.

The members include AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, Cohere co-founder Aidan Gomez, Shopify's Harley Finkelstein, and leaders like Valerie Pisano, Michelle Zatlyn and former national security adviser Jody Thomas. Former Google CFO Patrick Pichette joins as an ex-officio member.

The council will advise the government on its "AI for All" strategy, unveiled in June. The plan aims to add $200 billion in economic growth and 250,000 jobs over five years, lift AI adoption by small businesses from 12 per cent to 60 per cent by 2034, and includes a $700 million Compute Access Fund plus $150 million for AI safety research body LawZero.

Carney said AI is a defining technology of the century and Canada intends to lead, not follow. The council will meet regularly and report publicly on progress.

Sources: aiaffairs.com; pm.gc.ca.