AI Generated Government?
It’s interesting that both of these articles came through on my feed in the same day:
Ahmed Otmani Amaouim, “Canada’s new Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation: What it means for Canadian innovators” (MNP, last accessed September 12, 2025), online: https://www.mnp.ca/en/insights/directory/what-it-means-for-canadian-innovators.
and then
Patrick Butler, “N.L.’s 10-year education action plan cites sources that don’t exist” (CBC, September 12, 2025), online: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/education-accord-nl-sources-dont-exist-1.7631364.
Falsified Education Policy?
Let’s just call it – it was Newfoundland and Labrador’s **Education Accord** (10 year policy document) (that cost $755,000 dollars, no less) which contained falsified sources:
Yumna Iftikhar, “PCs ‘not prioritizing’ review of AI policies following Education Accord scandal” (The Independent, November 12, 2025), online: https://theindependent.ca/news/lji/pcs-not-prioritizing-review-of-ai-policies-following-education-accord-scandal/
Remind me how replacing public servants with commissioned reports and AI is going to a) save money, and b) improve policymaking in this country?
This entire episode is especially ironic considering it was their EDUCATION POLICY affected by hallucinated sources. What was the extent of the contractor’s expertise to write that report -using unverified AI outputs – in the first place? And why are governments hiring such persons to draft such critical policies?
I’m assuming the under resourcing of the public sector is to blame, leaving very few people to a) research and write critical policies, and b) actually engage in intelligent procurement practices.
Are we Headed for a Falsified Future?
Ultimately, what does this say about the future of policy making and government in this country, especially considering the Mark Carney government’s intention to further under-resource the public sector while investing in AI (see source above).
Getting rid of a long vilified public sector in favour of AI is, in my opinion, not only a foolish conjecture, but also ill-advised.
Keeping humans in the loop is an important part of the equation in ensuring the safety of AI.
With the perfect storm of cuts to the public sector accompanied by AI implementation with limited governance (see the PC government’s response in the Iftikhar article referenced above), it is my opinion that we are going to run the serious risk of the day-to-day work of government being riddled with errors and hallucinations, with no humans to catch it.
I’ve watched too many failed system migrations to see this ending well. The government fails to resource these projects properly – so they are doomed to fail from the outset.
See my previous posts on this topic.
All of the bells and whistles that companies parade before under-resourced procurement teams never come to fruition, and just result in on-going unresolved frustrations for public servants and clientele alike.
Cutting Libraries is Part of the Problem
In the mix is increasing number of government libraries being forced to close under this and previous governments.
This is an excellent commentary on why libraries are needed more than ever in this day and age. Take five minutes to find out why he referred to the American Association of School Librarians as “the most dangerous room in the country…”
Steve Hofstetter, “Full speech to the American Association of School Librarians” (last accessed, November 14, 2025), online: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1139338981678764
In my opinion, this perfect storm of influences is a risk to our entire democracy.
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