(Ottawa) The Carney government calls on Cohere, a Canadian specialist in artificial intelligence (AI) who is in full ascent and who rubs American giants like Anthropic and Openai, to help him deploy this large -scale technology within the federal apparatus.
The press learned that the Minister of Artificial Intelligence, Evan Solomon, and the Minister of Public Works and Supply, Joël Lightbound, signed an agreement with Cohere. The objective of this approach: to determine the sectors within the federal government where the use of artificial intelligence would allow “to improve services, to strengthen digital infrastructure and to stimulate innovation in the civil and national defense”.
According to Minister Evan Solomon, this understanding protocol confirms the firm intention of the Carney government to support Canadian companies like Cohere which excels in a sector deemed highly strategic for the country’s economic future, but also for the sovereignty of Canada.
“Cohere is already a world leader in artificial intelligence. And there are only four countries that make progress in this area: the United States, China, France and Canada. And Cohere works closely with companies such as the Royal Bank of Canada or BCE, “said Minister Solomon in an interview with The press.
In the geopolitical context that we know, it is of capital importance to ensure its sovereignty in terms of AI. Canada is no exception. We must control our data. We don’t want to rely on another country for that.
Evan Solomon, Canadian Minister of Artificial Intelligence
He added that the fact that the federal government chooses to call on Cohere represents a form of validation of a global caliber company well installed in Canada, “and we want to make sure that it continues its growth internationally and that it remains in Canada”.
Keep Canadian property
The Minister recalled that too often in the past, Canadian companies have been successful before being bought by foreign giants. He indicated that Ottawa is biting to avoid such a scenario in the future, in particular in the highly strategic field of artificial intelligence.
“We are not going to allow this to happen here. We want COHERE and other companies in full ascent to remain in Canada. The approach we are announcing is a way of achieving it. The government thus sends a powerful message that it is strategic companies, “he added.
We will transform the government by using Canadian companies, using Canadian products. This is an important message that we send. It is a question of sovereignty.
Evan Solomon, Canadian Minister of Artificial Intelligence
The federal government uses small -scale artificial intelligence as part of its daily activities. Cohere has done some brushcutting in the past. But Minister Solomon wants Ottawa to go to another speed. This also explains why his colleague of public works, Minister Joël Lightbound, also signed the agreement protocol.
Photo Chris Young, Canadian Press Archives
Aidan Gomez, co -founder and current COHERE CEO
Aidan Gomez, co -founder and current CEO of Cohere, said he was enthusiastic about the idea of seeing Cohere contribute to the deployment of artificial intelligence within the federal government.
“We are excited. We are a Canadian company. I was raised here. Strengthening our partnership with the federal government is very important to us. And we offer a solution that is distinguished in the sense that our offer is completely sovereign and safe and will improve public services, ”said Gomez.
“AI is an extremely powerful tool that can support productivity while ensuring national sovereignty. Cohere can play a role in this and can maintain Canada’s leadership position in AI, “he also advanced.
Mr. Gomez said he was convinced that the provinces will also wish to follow suit with the federal government.
Expansion in Montreal
During the electoral campaign, last spring, Mark Carney spoke a few times to use artificial intelligence in order to increase the efficiency and productivity of the public service. He also became the first head of government to appoint a minister responsible for artificial intelligence in his ministerial team.
Recently, Cohere, who is a storefront in Toronto, has opened an office in Montreal – a decision that will lead to the hiring of a few dozen employees and will allow the metropolis to consolidate its position in the World ECOC ECOSYSTEM.
Founded in 2019, Cohere was also entitled to financial support from the Montreal technological fund Inovia Capital. The company has some 400 employees. Among its main investors, there are multinationals like Nvidia, Oracle, Salesforce and AMD.
Last week, Cohere announced the hiring of Joëlle Pineau, former vice-president in research in artificial intelligence at Meta, as Director of AI. She will work in the Montreal offices, where Cohere is already counting on the presence of seven employees.
With Alain McKenna, The press