The Canadian government has said it will invest $2.4 billion in the country’s AI industry to boost job growth, productivity and responsible adoption of the technology.

The package from this year’s upcoming budget includes $2 billion to provide technological infrastructure for Canada’s AI researchers, start-ups and scale-ups.

The government said it will also launch an AI Compute Access fund to provide support for the industry and an Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy to develop Canadian-owned AI infrastructure.

Around $50 million has been earmarked to launch the AI Safety Institute which will oversee the safe development and deployment of AI.

The government added that it would invest £100 million to help SMEs increase their productivity by adopting AI technology, while it also pledged $50 million towards skills training for workers in sectors that could see significant disruption from AI tech, like the creative industry.

Canada’s Regional Development Agencies will also provide £200 million to enable AI adoption in sectors such as agriculture, health care and manufacturing.

“These investments in Budget 2024 will help harness the full potential of AI so Canadians, and especially young Canadians, can get good-paying jobs while raising our productivity, and growing our economy,” said Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada. “This announcement is a major investment in our future, in the future of workers, in making sure that every industry, and every generation, has the tools to succeed and prosper in the economy of tomorrow.”

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