Five Top Tech Takeaways: Canada's $2.4B AI bet, Adobe Goes Open, Training Data Shortage, Cdn SMBs Go Big on AI and Turnitin's Take on AI & Plagiarism

Canada Invests $2.4 Billion in AI

$2.4 Billion Infusion: Canada's Move to Spearhead AI Innovation and Safety

Canada is advancing its position in the global AI sector, as detailed by the Canadian government's announcement of a $2.4 billion investment package from Budget 2024 aimed at enhancing Canada's AI capabilities. This investment is intended to catalyze job growth, improve productivity, and ensure responsible development and use of AI technologies across various industries. The funds are allocated towards enhancing computing capabilities, boosting AI startups, supporting small to medium businesses with AI adoption, and establishing new institutes and programs for AI safety and workforce transition. These efforts underscore the Canadian government's commitment to maintaining Canada's leadership in AI innovation and providing high-quality job opportunities in the sector.

Key Takeaways:

• The Canadian government has announced a $2.4 billion investment to strengthen the nation's AI sector, aimed at boosting job creation and productivity.
• Investments include significant funds for computing infrastructure, support for AI startups, and programs to aid businesses and workers in adopting AI technologies.
• The establishment of a new Canadian AI Safety Institute and the strengthening of AI legislation highlight Canada's focus on the responsible and secure advancement of AI technology.
  

(Source: PM Canada)

Adobe Opts For Open: Embracing OpenAI's Tools in Premiere Pro

Adobe is exploring a partnership with OpenAI and other companies as it integrates third-party generative AI tools into its Premiere Pro video editing software. This initiative aims to enhance the software's capabilities by allowing adding AI-generated objects or removing distractions with minimal manual effort. Adobe is leveraging its proprietary AI model, Firefly while considering how to incorporate external AI technologies like OpenAI's Sora. Despite the ongoing development and lack of a set release timeline, Adobe's strategy reflects its efforts to innovate amidst a competitive landscape and a significant drop in stock value this year.

Comment:  Adobe's strategic decision to make Premiere Pro open to third-party AI video makers has enabled it to avoid the pitfalls that Apple initially faced with its closed ecosystem approach to the Macintosh. Adobe has "future proofed"Premiere Pro by allowing access to third-party AI video makers. This approach contrasts sharply with Apple's early strategy with the Mac and nearly repeated with the iPhone, which restricted third-party access, limiting system functionality and user choice. By embracing openness, Adobe has enhanced its offering to video creators who want to leverage AI-generated content. 

Here, Igor Pogany walks us through the demo that Adobe has released:

Key Takeaways:

• Adobe is integrating third-party AI tools into its Premiere Pro software, potentially enhancing video editing capabilities. This includes OpenAI, Runway ML, and PikaLabs. 
• The company continues to use its AI model, Firefly while exploring collaborations with OpenAI and other AI developers.
• Despite the potential of these AI tools, Adobe faces market pressures, with its stock declining by about 20% this year.

(Source: Reuters)

Turnitin Tackles AI: Insights from 200 Million Paper Reviews

In the past year, over 22 million student papers suspected of utilizing generative AI were submitted for review, according to the latest data from Turnitin, a prominent plagiarism detection company. This development follows the integration of an AI writing detection tool by Turnitin, designed to identify AI-generated content within student work. Despite the challenges of distinguishing AI-authored content from human writing, the tool has evaluated over 200 million papers, flagging 11% as containing significant AI-generated content. This surge in AI use among students underscores the evolving landscape of academic integrity and the need for sophisticated detection tools that balance effectiveness with fairness, particularly in avoiding bias against non-native English speakers.

Key Takeaways:

• Turnitin's AI detection tool has reviewed over 200 million papers, identifying a notable percentage with significant AI-generated content.
• The tool's development highlights the growing concern over academic integrity in the era of AI, prompting the need for reliable detection methods.
• Issues of bias and the complexity of AI detection in academic settings remain significant, influencing institutions like Montclair State University to reassess their use of such technologies.

(Source: Wired)

AI Adoption Soars Among Canadian SMBs: A Look at the Numbers

A recent report by Float reveals a significant increase in artificial intelligence adoption among Canada's small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with 32% now subscribing to ChatGPT, up from just 14% a year earlier. This surge reflects a broader trend of integrating AI to enhance efficiency and productivity across various sectors, not only in mundane tasks but throughout entire organizations. According to Rob Khazzam, CEO of Float, this growth is not just a technological shift but a necessary evolution to extend operational budgets further. Despite general economic caution, with most companies maintaining flat spending levels, advertising expenses have notably doubled, indicating a readiness for growth. The report, which analyzed credit card transactions across 1,000 companies, also highlights a robust increase in spending among larger firms, signaling potential economic rebound.

Key Takeaways:

• AI adoption among Canadian SMBs has more than doubled in a year, with 32% now using ChatGPT.
• Businesses are applying AI broadly across functions, aiming to maximize efficiency and extend financial resources.
• Despite cautious spending in general areas, advertising expenditures have doubled, suggesting a move towards aggressive growth strategies.

(Source: BNN Bloomberg)

The Data Dilemma: AI Giants Grapple with Training Material Shortages

OpenAI has developed its Whisper audio transcription model to transcribe over a million hours of YouTube videos for training its GPT-4 model, as reported by The New York Times. Despite legal ambiguities, OpenAI pursued this method under the belief it constituted fair use. The company is exploring the creation of synthetic data to diversify its training resources further. Meanwhile, Google and Meta are also navigating the constraints of training data availability, with Google adjusting policies to expand permissible data use and Meta considering acquisitions to secure more content. These strategies highlight the intense demand for high-quality data as AI companies strive to enhance their models' capabilities amidst growing legal and ethical scrutiny.

Key Takeaways:

• OpenAI utilized a large volume of YouTube video transcripts, believing it to be fair use, to train its GPT-4 model.
• The AI industry faces a critical shortage of high-quality training data, pushing companies like Google and Meta to seek creative solutions.
• Legal and ethical challenges continue to complicate the sourcing of training data for AI models.

(Source: The Verge)

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist who is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else. This post was written with the assistance of an AI language model. The model provided suggestions and completions to help me write, but the final content and opinions are my own.

Verizon Mobile Push into Canada Evaporates: The Data Privacy Angle

Canadians had been anxiously awaiting the entrance of American telecom giant into the Canadian mobile market. For years, Canadians have lived under the domination of a few giant players, which has resulted in Canadians paying one of the highest - if not the highest - cell phone rates in the world.

The government of Canada actually dedicated a website, which actually illustrates the level of concentration in the market. Apparently, to address the issue "Ottawa rolled out the red carpet to attract the U.S. mobile giant in the hopes of establishing a fourth mobile competitor in all provinces - not only in Quebec, where Quebecor’s Vidéotron is giving the Big Three a run for their money. "(see the Globe & Mail article for the full context of the quote). As this Globe & Mail article, suggests the hope was that Verizon would have entered the market and forced the incumbents to offer better prices.

However, Verizon announced that it has cancelled any plans to enter into the Canadian market and thus dashing these hopes.

An interesting point to note, however, is the data security and privacy angle that the incumbents took to bolster their case to the Canadian public. As per the FairForCanada website (which is supported by the Big 3 Telecoms), they claim:
"Who do you want to own your private data? 

Across the country, Canadians use their wireless devices to make calls, send text messages and emails, and browse the internet every day. That information should be safe, secure, and private. 

Will American companies say no to requests from U.S. government agencies, for customers’ personal data? 

Canadian wireless providers have a solid track record of protecting your data in compliance with Canadian laws. But what will happen with regard to the data of Canadians in the hands of foreign-owned wireless carriers? What laws will regulate the protection of your information? This is not a trivial issue. It is one that should be of concern to all Canadians."

It seems that the advocacy group was riding the fear of Canadians that the US will have access to their data.

It seems they have done their research.

As noted in this ZDNet article, "Since being signed into law in 2001, the Patriot Act has been cited as a viable reason for Canadian companies, government departments and universities to avoid the cloud due to the close proximity to the United States". In other words, fear of US surveillance has led to low demand for US-based cloud services. Applying the same logic, the incumbents were playing on this same fear that Canadians would stick to them.

However, this is only part of the truth. The reality is that Canadian companies have had to comply with similar legislation that requires them to divulge data to Canadian law enforcement. As noted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

" In the national security and anti-terrorism context, Canadian organizations are subject to similar types of orders to disclose personal information held in Canada to Canadian authorities. Despite the objections of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act has been amended since the events of September 11th, 2001, so as to permit organizations to collect and use personal information without consent for the purpose of disclosing this information to government institutions, if the information relates to national security, the defence of Canada or the conduct of international affairs."

This is on top of the recent CSEC scandal (where the secretive agency is alleged to have illegally spied on Canadians), but one could argue that such surveillance was actually illegal. Ultimately, I had hoped Verizon would have entered into the market, but only to push down the rates. I would have ended sticking with the Canadian mobile carriers because the data is one way or another in one jurisdiction.

However, all is not lost in terms of lower rates in the cell phone market.

It seems the government is hoping to entice voters by tackling a problem, which does impact the productivity of Canadians (see this post which compares Canadian mobile access to access in India/China). For example, the CRTC has mandated a number of changes to the cell phone contracts that the wireless industry can legally offer, such as restricting the minimum contract length to two years.

But from a data privacy perspective, it seems the only way to get privacy these days is to live a technology-free lifestyle of yesteryear!