{"id":427751,"date":"2026-01-23T09:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/427751\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T09:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:29:07","slug":"task-force-advises-ottawa-to-regulate-chatbots-require-labels-for-ai-generated-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/427751\/","title":{"rendered":"Task force advises Ottawa to regulate chatbots, require labels for AI-generated content"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

AI Minister Evan Solomon during the G7 Industry, Digital and Technology Ministers\u2019 Meeting in Montreal in Dec. 9.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s forthcoming online harms and privacy bills should regulate aspects of artificial intelligence<\/a>, including by introducing a requirement for platforms to label AI-generated photos and video, according to members of the government\u2019s AI strategy task force.<\/p>\n

Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon is preparing to publish a government AI strategy as early as next month. Last year he appointed an expert task force to advise him, including on the safety aspects of the technology.<\/p>\n

Members of that task force have advised the minister to take action to protect children under the age of 18 from being harmed by AI models, such as chatbots.<\/p>\n

A paper<\/a> on safe AI and public trust submitted to the task force by one of its members, Taylor Owen, founding director of McGill University\u2019s Center for Media, Technology and Democracy<\/a>, said that online platforms should have a responsibility to inform consumers when material is AI-generated. <\/p>\n

How AI is disrupting career paths and forcing Gen Z \u2013 and everyone else \u2013 to adapt<\/a><\/p>\n

It also said photos and videos generated by AI should include a digital watermark to help people differentiate between genuine images and those created artificially.<\/p>\n

The paper expressed concern that AI chatbots have the potential to cause significant harm. Some have encouraged desperate young people<\/a> to hide eating disorders and to end their own lives.<\/p>\n

Prof. Owen\u2019s submission to the task force said that while AI tools can enhance creativity, facilitate learning, and aid interaction and self-expression, they also can pose significant risks, including to children.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpirical studies have documented instances where AI chatbots, for example, fail to respond appropriately to users experiencing mental health crises, reinforce cognitive distortions through mirroring language and cultivate a false sense of emotional reciprocity,\u201d Prof. Owen wrote. <\/p>\n

He warned that AI chatbots have the ability to manipulate users, amplify disinformation, and enable non-consensual image generation and impersonation.<\/p>\n

Prof. Owen said platforms\u2019 responsibility to indicate AI-generated material extends to fake and misleading political content, including AI-generated videos of politicians making speeches and AI-generated social-media accounts. <\/p>\n

He said there was \u201cwidespread distribution of fake videos\u201d during Canada\u2019s last federal election, and that his team at McGill identified thousands of them. <\/p>\n

In a speech in Quebec City on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the advent of artificial intelligence creates enormous opportunities, and can empower Canadians with new skills. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur upcoming AI for All strategy will begin to tackle the challenges to maximize the potential of AI for all Canadians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opinion: We are only one AI chatbot away from falling in love<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Mr. Solomon\u2019s privacy bill and the online harms bill<\/a>, to be steered through Parliament by Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller, are expected to be introduced within months. <\/p>\n

Mary Wells, dean of engineering at the University of Waterloo and a member of the task force, recommended that a new AI framework should adopt a tiered approach to categorizing AI risk, focusing on effects on people rather than the underlying technology.<\/p>\n

A memo she submitted said Canadians under 18 \u201cshould not be allowed to interact with any AI companion models (synthetic relationships) that attempt to develop an emotional bond or have been designed to be manipulative or addictive in nature.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnother example could be prohibiting the use and deployment of AI systems that deliberately deceive users into believing they are interacting with a human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof. Wells wrote that when Canadians consume AI-generated content, it should be clearly identified as such. <\/p>\n

\u201cChatbots must be required to identify themselves as such. AI-generated media should require visible watermarks and\/or other identifiers,\u201d the paper said.<\/p>\n

She said people should also have the right to know if their data have been used to train a commercial AI system, or are being accessed by an AI system, and must have the right to withdraw permission for continued access to those data.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Don\u2019t hate ChatGPT-5. Your chatbot is not your friend<\/a><\/p>\n

James Neufeld, founder and chief executive officer of samdesk, a Canadian company that has developed AI capable of monitoring global disruption, advised the task force on security aspects of AI. He urged the government to invest further in the development of Canadian AI systems, which he said are built with Canadian values \u201cbaked into the core.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some AI systems developed abroad had used racial profiling to assess risk, but he argued Canadian systems would not do this as they are trained with Canadian values in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not advocating for taking off the guardrails. However, we should maybe not shift all balance and focus towards forcing our values and rules to others that may not want to hear it, and more towards championing and adopting local technologies, which would \u2026 in many cases have Canadian values baked into the core,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sofia Ouslis, a spokesperson for Mr. Solomon, said in an e-mail that the government\u2019s strategy \u201cis focused on ensuring AI delivers real benefits for Canadians \u2013 strengthening health care, modernizing public services, and supporting economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: AI Minister Evan Solomon during the G7 Industry, Digital and Technology Ministers\u2019 Meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,714,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-427751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}