Ideas that spark change

Canada’s proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) is its first attempt to govern AI systems entrenched in everyday life. While the Act sets out to protect the public through a risk-based framework, its vague definitions, limited equity protections, and exclusionary development process raise concerns.

A teenager in crisis shouldn’t have to wonder whether their AI “listener” is saving their life or saving their data. As more youth turn to chatbots for comfort, weak safeguards turn private pain into unprotected information. We urgently need rules that provides safeguard for our youth.

AI is increasingly embedded in key societal sectors - work, housing, care. The EU AI Act aims to provide a safeguard, however its transparency gaps risk leaving people vulnerable to decisions they cannot see, challenge, or understand.

In an age where our lives are increasingly lived online, the data we leave behind has become both a source of vulnerability. This piece explores how this threats the public to unprecedented risks, and why America’s existing privacy laws are no match for the scale of this new digital reality.

The EU AI Act is celebrated as a landmark in global tech regulation. But it contains a quiet omission: it does not account for the unequal realities in which AI operates. This piece examines how a law built to manage risk can still overlook the people most vulnerable to algorithmic harm.