Picture © Alvaro Serrano
The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE), representing over 350,000 creators and nearly 3,000 cultural businesses across Canada, has officially submitted three requests to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology as part of Bill C-27 on Artificial Intelligence and Data (AIDA ).
To take into account the significant impacts of generative artificial intelligence development, the requests presented aim to:
- Broaden the scope of the law in Canada by clarifying the definition of harm, specifically by ensuring that harm to individuals’ reputations and societal risks are integrated in the bill;
- Ensure compliance with the Copyright Act for data used before systems are deployed in Canada regardless of the original jurisdiction of the system or of the data; and
- Impose transparency obligations on companies developing AI systems. CDCE requests that a sufficiently detailed summary of the use of training data protected by copyright be made accessible to the public.
These requests are in alignment with efforts made by the European cultural sector, which led to the adoption of the European Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AIA), and with recent actions taken by the Canadian cultural community in a public consultation on generative artificial intelligence and copyright.
“When the government introduced this bill in 2022, generative AI systems were not accessible to the general public. The cultural sector urges the Government of Canada to take into account this significant change in context and to draw inspiration from the European Union, which has just adopted a Law containing provisions similar to those requested by CDCE,” said CDCE CEO Marie-Julie Desrochers.
CDCE calls on the government and committee members to favorably consider these requests in the interest of Canadian cultural sovereignty.