The federal government is “just about to set up, with labour leaders, an AI labour advisory group,” AI Minister Evan Solomon said at the Public Policy Forum’s Canada Growth Summit in Toronto on Thursday. (The Logic)

Talking point: The Liberal government is framing its approach to the technology as “pro-worker” and has pledged its forthcoming national strategy will include AI training and adoption measures that keep people in jobs. The skills component is “not just training AI engineers, but equipping the broader workforce with AI literacy,” Solomon said. Workers in sectors like telecom and the public service have called for restrictions on how their employers can use AI. Ottawa previously announced a new AI and Culture Advisory Council to weigh in on the technology’s impact on the arts. Solomon didn’t provide a specific date for the release of the strategy, but said Ottawa is focused on “pragmatic uses” of AI, not “the pom poms or the pitchforks” of people who boost or fear it.