Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada's national AI strategy Thursday, prioritizing sovereign capability and consumer protection over U.S. tech dominance. The plan includes $100 million for research, a public AI supercomputer, and legislation targeting deepfakes and surveillance pricing.

Canada, a longtime AI research hub, aims to lead among middle powers like Australia and France, mirroring its defense strategy of local procurement. Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Richard Sutton—Canadian AI pioneers—will shape ethical guidelines. The strategy also addresses brain drain, as 60% of trained workers emigrate, largely to the U.S.

While rejecting adversarial posturing, Carney emphasized U.S. firms like Anthropic will remain partners, citing access to its Mythos model. The move follows concerns over AI misuse, including a February school shooting linked to an OpenAI account. Policies will protect children’s data and regulate AI-driven pricing. With a goal of 250,000 AI jobs by 2031, Canada bets on domestic innovation to secure its tech future.