Canada's federal AI register goes live - what it means for your department
The federal government has launched a public register that lists where and how artificial intelligence is being used across the public service. It's one of the core actions in the AI strategy guiding adoption through 2027.
"The AI Register is an important step in building public trust and ensuring the responsible use of AI across the federal public service," said Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali.
What launched
The register currently covers 42 institutions and more than 400 AI systems, live or planned. Each entry spells out the system's purpose, intended use, and whether it was built in-house or provided by a vendor.
Departments can scan activity across government, spot overlaps, and see who is doing similar work. The goal: reduce duplication, improve planning, and move faster on what's already working.
Examples already listed
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is using computer models to identify insect species from sticky-trap images, feeding a biodiversity dashboard.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada is piloting camera-based flags when boats are towed across the border to study invasive aquatic species movement.
- The RCMP is using "Polly," a chatbot that helps officers find answers in official policy manuals.
Policy direction and funding signals
From the campaign trail on, Prime Minister Mark Carney has made AI adoption a priority across the federal bureaucracy. In July, the government announced a partnership with Canadian AI firm Cohere to accelerate rollout.
The 2025 budget lists AI as a key lever to lift productivity while trimming the public service. Translation teams have raised concerns about quality and job impacts, highlighting the need for guardrails and clear scope.
Why this matters for public servants
- Faster planning: Find similar use cases, reuse what exists, and avoid spinning up duplicate pilots.
- Clearer procurement: See which tools are vendor-built vs. internal and learn from peers' integration notes.
- Risk visibility: Compare approaches for oversight, testing, and deployment in comparable programs.
- Transparency: Report activity consistently and show the public where AI supports services.
Practical next steps for your team
- Inventory your AI work: Map pilots and production systems, then reconcile with the register to spot overlaps or gaps.
- Coordinate early: If another department runs a similar system, contact the team lead and share artifacts (requirements, evals, prompts, metrics).
- Standardize reviews: Set a quarterly check on data sources, testing results, bias findings, and human-in-the-loop controls.
- Right-size procurement: For vendor systems, document model access, data handling, and exit plans before scaling.
- Upskill staff: Train policy, ops, and IT teams on safe use, evaluation, and prompt discipline so adoption doesn't outpace skill.
Global context
Canada is joining peers that publish public-sector AI activity. U.S. federal agencies maintain annual AI inventories, and similar registers exist in the Netherlands, Scotland, and several U.S. states, including Texas, Vermont, and Washington.
If you want to see how another jurisdiction shares use cases, explore the U.S. federal AI use case inventory.
What to watch
- Register growth: Expect more entries and richer detail as departments formalize reporting.
- Shared components: Reusable prompts, datasets, and evaluation frameworks will likely emerge as common building blocks.
- Impact on roles: Translation, analysis, and frontline service jobs will evolve; quality checks and human oversight remain critical.
Need focused upskilling?
For teams building AI capability by job function, see curated public-service-friendly learning paths at Complete AI Training - Courses by Job. If you're standardizing prompt and evaluation practices, browse current options at Prompt Engineering.
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