The federal innovation department is rolling out Cohere’s workplace AI technology to help staff automate some tasks. 

Up to 1,400 users at Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) will get access to Cohere’s North platform, Peter Wall, a spokesperson for AI Minister Evan Solomon, told The Logic. The deal is a milestone for the firm’s public-sector business, and for Ottawa’s pledge to buy more technology from Canadian companies as it tries to boost productivity with AI.

Public servants in the department will use North for “search, summarization, drafting, decision support, and task automation,” Wall said. “This is a real-world, at-scale deployment of Canadian AI inside the federal government.” 

Sohail Manoussi, Cohere’s lead for the Canadian public sector, described the deal as the firm’s “first major expansion of secure AI infrastructure into civilian government operations.” 

North lets users set up and run AI agents that can take on assignments on their behalf, and complete repetitive tasks. Cohere claims the platform is secure and meets sovereignty requirements, and will make staff more efficient. The innovation department’s use of the technology will establish “a technical blueprint for how the rest of the federal government will modernize,” according to Manoussi. 

Neither the federal government nor Cohere disclosed financial terms of the procurement. ISED has about 5,900 employees in total. 

Ottawa has promised to buy from Canadian tech companies at home and champion them abroad as it looks to compete in the global AI race. Cohere has positioned its technology as particularly well-suited to public sector applications, because it can be run on clients’ own digital infrastructure and provides an alternative to services developed by U.S. tech giants.

Last May, the innovation department’s in-house AI accelerator hosted a workshop for Cohere to demonstrate North, and the IT unit subsequently tested it. ISED was already using a Cohere AI model to power part of an application called ParlBrief, which transcribes, summarizes and analyzes Parliamentary committee meetings. 

In August, Solomon and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound signed a non-binding agreement with Cohere to explore using its AI products in federal operations. The contract with ISED marks the first subsequent large-scale deployment. Manoussi said it shows “high-performance AI can be deployed responsibly to serve Canadian interests.” 

Shared Services Canada awarded Cohere a $339,000 contract in November to make its models available for CanChat, Ottawa’s in-house AI assistant. Cohere has also previously received some non-civilian business. As The Logic first reported, the firm had a contract with the Communications Security Establishment. Cohere has also recently partnered with several defence contractors that have sold or are trying to sell to the Canadian Armed Forces, including Hanwha, Saab, Thales and TKMS. 

The Liberal government’s November 2025 federal budget promised a new Office of Digital Transformation to lead AI adoption across departments and agencies. Many federal public servants already have access to some AI applications, including CanChat and Microsoft Copilot. 

In a December interview, Solomon said Ottawa will need generative, agentic and enterprise AI tools “to help us modernize government services.” The innovation department is currently focused on acquiring technology to streamline administration and improve operational efficiency according to its plan for the current fiscal year. ISED has also committed to giving employees AI training, improving its management of data, and investing in Canadian solutions.

Other major clients for North include Canadian corporate giants Bell and RBC, as well as Saudi Arabian telecom company STC Group and U.S. hospital software developer Ensemble Health Partners. The firm typically charges clients a fee per user of North, tied to the scope of capabilities they’re employing. North can “lift the burden of boring and monotonous work off of people,” Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst said during a demonstration last August. 

Public-service unions have expressed concern about the impact that the government’s adoption of AI could have on members’ work and jobs.