Canada is pushing for safe, equitable adoption of artificial intelligence at the United Nations, where Ottawa's ambassador says AI is a significant priority for his team.
"AI governance is something that the UN has to do — has a responsibility to do," David Lametti told The Canadian Press.
"The UN remains critically important, (it) remains perhaps the only institution in the world that can convene that kind of discussion on a more or less equal footing between Meta, Amazon Web, Microsoft, Apple and Google — and all of these other countries."
Lametti officially started his role last November, and says AI has taken up "between 10 and 15 per cent" of his time.
Lametti said there is "definitely alignment" on the need for safety in AI, as well as concerns from emerging countries, particularly in Asia, that they might be left behind.
AI was a major theme at the G7 summit in France earlier this month, with leading economies trying to find consensus on how to regulate platforms without hurting economic growth.
"All of these countries in the world, 190-odd countries, don't just want to be technology-takers," he said. "They want to have a voice in the adoption. The UN remains the only place where they can do that."
Lametti noted he had worked on AI governance as federal justice minister and as a McGill University law professor more than a decade ago.
"I think I've got a particular experience there that will be useful, to Canada and to the world. So I'm certainly making that a personal priority. It aligns with the government's priorities about AI safety and AI development — the two together," he said.
"That will be fast moving, and that will be important," said Lametti, who will be in Geneva next month for the AI for Good Global Summit.
In May, Lametti hosted the chair of the International AI Safety Report at Canada's UN mission, for an event on how middle powers can encourage the safe use of AI. That report noted risks ranging from blackmail, loneliness, information manipulation and cyberattacks to "biological and chemical weapons development."
Last June, Canada co-hosted a panel with Brazil on how inclusive AI can empower people with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and women — and further inequalities if not properly used.
Prime Minister Mark Carney named Lametti as Canada's UN ambassador last fall, after a summer as his principal secretary. The two had played together on the Oxford University hockey team in the 1990s.
He replaced Bob Rae, who frequently made headlines for comments that generally reflected the Trudeau government's policies though often in more frank framing.
Lametti said he is still continuing many of Rae's priorities, such as a working group on Haiti's long-term economic development and democratic transition.
Since 2021, gangs have controlled much of the Caribbean country, resulting in a humanitarian crisis and major security concerns for large swaths of the Western Hemisphere.
He said Haiti touches on all "all three pillars of the UN's founding document," namely peace and security, human rights and living standards.
Others topics have become less prominent, such as advocacy for Rohingya people subject to brazen violence by Myanmar officials and Buddhist extremists.
"Because I haven't taken on other commitments in Asia that Ambassador Rae had taken on, you shouldn't think of it as a downgrading, but more as a prioritization by me," Lametti said.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
