People & Planet First Over Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Canada cannot afford to let Big Tech self-regulate artificial intelligence. With Canada’s Liberal Government going “all in” on American Corporate-Run Artificial Intelligence (AI) with no consideration for the harms it will cause Canadians, the NDP must be a leader with a bold plan for People & Planet First AI Policies. We must protect workers, consumers, and our planet. That’s why Tanille is presenting a comprehensive plan that regulates AI for the 21st-century.
There are five key parts to accomplishing this:
Strong Health & Environmental Rules for AI Data Centres
Out-right Bans on harmful uses of AI
Serious AI data-protection
Protect Canadian Workers from AI layoffs
Tax and redistribute the gains of AI
Health & Environmental Rules on Data Centres
-
No AI data centre in Nanaimo, Etobicoke, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, or anywhere in Canada should be built without strong federal environmental regulations that protect local communities’ health and preserve our planet’s energy and water that is why we need to institute a national moratorium on all new data-centres until 2029 so we can ensure data centres no longer harm our access to water and a clean environment.
-
Create a federal task force with binding authority to regulate data-centre power usage through mandatory water use-limits, emissions standards and transparent public disclosures.
-
Require the AI data centres companies pay the full infrastructure and energy costs associated with data centre expansion, so that working-class Canadians aren’t subsidizing tech profits.
Out-right Bans on harmful uses of AI
-
AI technology should be used to help us with medical breakthroughs not to sexualize women without their consent. We must criminalize the creation and distribution of non-consensual sexual AI generated “deepfake” images including holding platforms such as “X” criminally liable.
-
While Mark Carney’s Liberals negotiated government contracts with AI companies like Palantir, New Democrats must be a moral leader. We must ban Palantir’s contract with the government along with similar AI companies who are complicit in genocide and war crimes, banning them from continued operations in Canada.
-
Use existing anti-trust law to ban companies from using AI to price-gouging our groceries, rent, and essential goods.
Serious AI data-protection
-
AI is trained using our data, both public and private. It is time for us to stop big tech overreach and protect Canadians’ data and mandate companies make opting-out of AI data collection the default, so that we put an end to big-tech overreach.
-
Prohibit the use of IP protected data from AI training models to protect our artists and creatives.
-
Put protections in place to control AI extractivism that is set to amplify historical patterns of harm and exploitation of Indigenous people’s culture and the digital disenfranchisement of vulnerable Canadians.
-
Audit and investigate government contracts that giveaway Canadians’ data to big tech without their informed consent.
-
Launch Public ownership of AI digital infrastructure to safeguard Canadian sovereignty and economic independence.
Protect Canadian Workers from AI layoffs
-
AI should be a help workers get their job done, not a help to companies who would lay them off to squeeze profit. It is time we empower workers to fight back and ban AI-driven lay-offs unless employers can demonstrate a clear public-interest benefit and provide binding job transition, retraining, and income guarantees.
-
Give workers the right to collectively bargain over the introduction of AI software in the office.
-
Ban the use of AI to evaluate, discipline or surveil workers.
-
Direct federal government agencies reverse the Liberal government’s replacement of public-service workers with AI chatbots that degrade service.
-
Pass an AI act that prioritizes accountability measures and safeguards workers, human rights, and First Nations’ treaty rights.
Tax and redistribute the gains of AI
-
Big tech is getting rich off of AI trained on public data. It is time that those gains are fairly taxed and equitably distributed. That’s why we need to tax the excess profits from AI giants including Amazon, Meta, Google, and OpenAI to pay for a Guaranteed Basic Livable Income.
-
Reinstitute the Digital Service Tax (DST) that taxes the revenue of big tech that the Mark Carney’s Liberals repealed to appease Donald Trump and American tech billionaires. It is time Canada joined like-minded countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom and implemented a DST.
