The federal government released the summary of its AI consultation this week. The document provided a look at what the government heard during a 30-day public consultation this fall, along with 32 reports submitted by the 28 members of the AI strategy task force.

It surfaces a broad collection of themes, including economic growth, research capacity, infrastructure, governance, and reflects the range of concerns and ambitions. You can read more about the report in the article we published yesterday, Ottawa collected input on AI. Now what?

Working on that article gave me the chance to speak with Elena Yunusov, executive director of the Human Feedback Foundation. She offered useful perspective on the potential value of open source in Canada’s AI strategy, and on groups that risk being overlooked.

The conversation about the consultation and its implications also made me think about the underlying purpose of an AI strategy.  

In The Cult of Efficiency, Janice Gross Stein argues that efficiency isn’t a worthwhile goal in and of itself. Doing something faster or cheaper only matters if the thing is worth doing.  

In the context of a national AI strategy, it’s not surprising that economic growth and sovereignty stand out in the summary. They sit high on the list of concerns, especially in a global environment that feels increasingly unstable. But they’re not the only forms of impact that matter. 

Other outcomes, particularly those tied to social well-being, are harder to quantify and easier to set aside. 

As Elena Yunusov told me, “Just adopting AI because it’s cool and technology for technology’s sake won’t get us to the society that we’ll all want to live in and leave to our children.” 

The government is putting together this AI strategy at a time when people are dealing with higher costs, stretched public services, and systems that feel harder to navigate than they used to. Done well, this is a chance to improve how systems across the economy and government support people.

Estonia, in addition to being well-worth a visit, offers an interesting example of how governments can use digital tools to support citizens. In what they call e-Estonia, emphasis is placed on using digital services to make routine tasks such as filing forms or accessing records quick and easy. 

Estonia ranks second in the UN’s e-government survey. Canada is noticeably absent from the leaderboard, having been third as recently as 2010.

Examples like this show what it can look like when digital tools are integrated into government. They run in the background, helping services work without demanding much attention from users. When AI is used this way, across an entire service rather than as a bolt-on feature, it changes how the experience feels from start to finish.

Canada is at a moment where that kind of rethink is possible. As public systems are already being stretched and reshaped, there’s an opportunity to use new tools to make dealing with the state more manageable in everyday life.

A few ways of seeing what’s unfolding.

None of that is settled yet. That’s what makes this window worth paying attention to.

Some light reading for when the consultation phase ends and you’re avoiding the real work.

AI is setting rules Canadian companies didn’t write

Canadian companies are increasingly playing by rules built into AI systems, platforms and global standards. The story looks at how companies are adapting, and what that means for control, accountability, and sovereignty in everyday business decisions.

Researchers seek to assess the reasoning power of AI scientists

As AI systems are increasingly used in scientific research, researchers are trying to figure out whether these models are genuinely reasoning or simply producing answers that look right. In science, unlike answering questions from a toddler, sounding confident isn’t enough. 

Security experts struggle to keep pace with AI threats

A look at how AI is pushing security teams into a more reactive posture, with attackers benefiting from automation and defenders still held back by human response times.  

Italy foils Russian cyberattacks targeting Olympics

The reported attacks highlight how major international events have become predictable targets for cyber operations. The article focuses on the defensive coordination involved and what it says about how cyber conflict now plays out alongside global spectacles. The Olympics, it turns out, come with an expanding digital perimeter.

Musk merges xAI into SpaceX in bid to build space data centers

AI ambition is running into physical constraints like power, cooling, and infrastructure. The obvious solution, space, is the final frontier. Rejected headline: Rich guy merges companies to fuel space fantasies. 

Artist chains up thrashing robot dog to expose AI fears

An art installation that leans into discomfort to surface public anxiety about autonomy and control. The piece examines how spectacle and symbolism can capture fears that policy language often smooths over. Sometimes a robot on a leash says more than a white paper.

The Insight Forum is Digital Journal's thought leadership platform, offering experts a dedicated space to share their perspectives with our audience across Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Members publish monthly articles showcasing industry insights and what they’re learning and seeing in their space.

 With more than 11,000 submissions, there’s no shortage of ideas in the input Ottawa has collected. The question now is how those ideas are translated into a strategy, how that strategy is executed, and what impact it has on Canadians' lives. 

Despite having a section in the report called “conclusions and next steps,” the only next step listed is that the strategy will be released in 2026. 

Have a great weekend. 

- David