More than a year ago, the federal government published the Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Responsible
Development and Management of Advanced Generative AI Systems.
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The Code refers to systems such as ChatGPT,
DALL·E 2 and Midjourney. While these tools offer many advantages, such as for writing emails, answering
complex questions, or generating realistic images or videos, they entail significant risks to health and safety, can
propagate bias, and carry the potential for serious societal impacts, particularly when used by malicious actors. It’s telling that even the pioneers of artificial intelligence are wary of the risks it presents. In early 2023, over 350
AI industry leaders signed a declaration2
urging the international community to make it a priority to mitigate the
risk of “extinction” posed by AI, placing such risk on a par with a pandemic or nuclear war. Since this standstill
did not take place, it is safe to assume that the urgency to act is even greater today, as Yoshua Bengio, one of
the signatories of this call for a moratorium, expressed it in an interview with Québec-based publication Les
Affaires.
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Aware of the need for a robust framework to manage and mitigate these risks, the federal government invited
companies to adhere to the Code, which outlines:
• measures that should be applied in advance of binding regulation pursuant to the Artificial Intelligence and
Data Act;
• as well as additional measures that should be taken by firms developing or managing the operations of
these systems that are made widely available for use, and which are therefore subject to a wider range of
potentially harmful or inappropriate use.
The purpose of this proposal is to invite the Board of Directors to decide whether the company should adhere to
this Code of Conduct.