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Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Ottawa teams up with startup Cohere to bring AI to the public sector
Article content The federal government is teaming up with Canadian artificial intelligence startup Cohere Inc. to broaden the use of AI in the public sector. Article content Ottawa and Cohere on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding that pledges to find ways to deploy the technology across the government. The non-binding agreement will also have the government and Cohere work together to 'build out Canada's commercial capabilities in using and exporting AI.' Article content Article content Article content 'By working with Canadian AI innovators like Cohere, we're laying the groundwork for a more efficient, effective and productive public service while helping ensure that Canada remains competitive in this new era,' Evan Solomon, Canada's AI and digital innovation minister, said in a statement. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to usher in the 'biggest transformation' of the Canadian economy since the end of the Second World War and to overhaul the public sector to make it more efficient and productive. Article content AI is seen as a key pillar to Ottawa's goals, though the government has released few details on how the technology will be deployed. Article content So far, Ottawa has said the Translation Bureau, which provides translation services for government agencies and is operated by Public Services and Procurement Canada, is developing the inaugural project under the national AI strategy for the public service that will let civil servants use AI tools trained with Canadian data. Article content Article content Canada was the first country to launch a national AI strategy in 2017. Since 2016, the government has committed more than $4.4 billion for AI and digital infrastructure initiatives. Article content Article content Toronto-based Cohere, which creates AI models for businesses rather than consumers, is trying to secure a foothold as the provider of choice for enterprises and governments worldwide. Article content Earlier this month, the startup officially launched its AI agent platform and is targeting businesses across North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In June, it announced a partnership with the United Kingdom that will let Keir Starmer's government use its AI tools to 'enhance government services and national sovereignty.' Article content
CBC
20-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Translation Bureau to cut a quarter of its workforce over next 5 years
A federal public service union is condemning a move by Canada's Translation Bureau to cut its workforce by one-quarter over the next five years. The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), which represents staff translators on Parliament Hill, released a statement Thursday morning condemning the bureau's business plan for 2025 to 2030. According to CAPE, the bureau plans to cut 339 positions over that period through attrition. The Translation Bureau provides translation services for all Canadian government agencies, boards, commissions and departments, and is under the jurisdiction of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). CAPE president Nathan Prier told CBC that the bureau's work is important for upholding bilingualism, and said reducing its workforce undermines the right of francophone Canadians to access reliable information. Prier said the reduction will place a strain on remaining translators, and called for PSPC to cancel the plan. "That's going to force translators to work faster with fewer resources, and it's going to mean that there's an unacceptable decline in quality," he said. PSPC spokesperson Michèle LaRose said the reduction is a response to a projected decrease in demand for the Translation Bureau's services. A 2024 Linkedin post by PSPC listed the bureau's workforce at roughly 1,350 employees. The Bloc Québécois also condemned the move to reduce the Translation Bureau's workforce. "In less than a week, the Liberals have eliminated the Department of Official Languages and are now cutting funding to the Translation Bureau," the party said in a statement. "These are two direct affronts to Quebecers and francophones in Canada." Focus on AI The office of Ali Ehsassi, the minister of government transformation, public services and procurement, said in a French-language statement that the Translation Bureau "plays an essential role in the smooth running of our government and in promoting our two official languages in Canada." The statement also notes the decline in demand for translation services, as well as technological advances such as artificial intelligence. Prier rejected those explanations, calling the staff reduction "austerity for austerity's sake." He also criticized the quality of AI-generated translation. "AI is amazing, it does great work and it should be there to support human translators, but it's not ready to replace a single human translator, and especially when you go to longer-form documents," he said. In its 2024 fall economic statement, which explains how last fiscal year's deficit ballooned to $61.9 billion, the federal government highlighted its use of artificial intelligence to boost productivity within the public service. According to the fall economic statement, the Translation Bureau holds an extensive repository of bilingual texts that are invaluable for training artificial intelligence models to understand and generate accurate translations. "Large language AI models and machine translation will fundamentally change the way we work, but Canadians need language AI that relies on, and generates, Canadian content," it said.
