When the Teeth Eat the Tail: Defence AI in Canada

Canada is in trouble when it comes to defence artificial intelligence (AI) and is positioned to become a cautionary tale of the early AI years. Although Canada is well-placed globally for AI research, development, funding, and implementation, the country’s defence force is badly positioned to embrace digital transformation. This is a consequence of the organization’s structure, history, and culture, rather than of technical shortcomings. Without remedy, Canada’s AI systems will be small-scale projects, spread throughout siloes within the military complex, with almost no cross-pollination between them. These AI systems will be focused on hyper-specific operational and tactical uses cases faced by the various commands. Currently, Canada focuses primarily on data analytics, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, mine clearing, targeting and medical services. Defence AI research is supported by significant government funding. However, the Canadian Armed Forces face an uphill struggle in their attempts to both recruit new talent as well as make proper use of the existing talent within the armed forces in defence AI.