Mapping Canadian Government Uses of AI for Social Services

Presented by Joanna Redden and Sananda Sahoo as part of the FIMS Seminar Series 2021/2022.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Contact Karen Kueneman at kueneman@uwo.ca to receive the Zoom link.

Abstract: This presentation details our efforts to produce a registry of government uses of AI and Automated Decision Systems (ADS) in Canada. We present early findings, discuss our counter-mapping methodology, put forward ideas for how to make our findings publicly accessible and suggest steps to advance more civic participation in this area. The central premises of the project are: a) that registries of government uses of AI and ADS systems are necessary to enable more public debate about where and how these systems should be used in public services, b) that more meaningful debate will help broaden discussion of the impact and complexity of these systems and c) provide a chance to avoid the harms and economic and social costs seen in places where AI and ADS systems have been implemented too hastily. A registry of this type does not exist in Canada, but it should. This project builds upon widespread calls for governments to produce AI and ADS registries and previous research mapping and analysing government uses of these systems in Canada and internationally.