The Manitoba Government is set to host provincewide public consultations for opinions about the regulation of Artificial Intelligence.
In a news release, the Manitoba Government said the consultations will focus on two urgent and connected priorities: the modernization of Manitoba's data privacy laws, and the establishment of clear and practical rules for responsible AI use.
In an interview with 730 CKDM NewsNow, Minister of Innovation and New Technology Mike Moroz said whenever regulatory decisions affect the public, they should be talked to.
"I'm always of the opinion that when Government looks to bring in legislation or regulate things that we're best to talk to the people who are going to have to live with the consequences of that regulation. Manitobans are excited about what technology can do for us, but they're also at the same time worried that technology has the capacity to potentially make decisions about them that they don't understand and can't challenge, and we want to make sure that the public knows that we're looking to establish clear guard rails to protect their interests," said Moroz.
The number of recent and rapid techonological advancements with AI have left a number of governments and regulatory bodies confused about the best way to regulate AI. Moroz said the Manitoba Government has looked at a few other governments as a refernce point.
"Certainly there's lots of interesting things happening in Europe that we're aware of, California has some regulations that we're looking at as well, all of those things will be informative, but we're looking for Manitoba solutions. We'll look globally to learn, but we're going to govern locally," said Moroz.
In looking at other governments and regulatory bodies, Moroz said a common conern he sees both abroad and in Manitoba is questions of transparency.
"It's always a question, I think from the public's point of view, of transparency. Knowing how data is being used, when it's being used, when it's being collected is always a critical issue," said Moroz.
With the spring session starting in Winnipeg, Moroz said his position as Minister of Innovation and New Technology means he has the chance to work on not only issues surrounding AI, but issues in other key sectors as well.
"Manitobans have been super clear about their priorities. Healthcare, education, affordability, my department has a role to play in all of those things with tech advancements, with efficiencies, we're going to work to make sure we carry our portion of the load on those files," said Moroz.
Recent pushes for increased AI regulation across Canada and the world came after OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, failed to alert authorities about the Tumbler Ridge, BC shooting suspect's ChatGPT account after it was flagged.
