The federal government may exclude ChatGPT and other AI chatbots from its upcoming online harms bill and instead rely on cabinet to regulate the technology at a later date, The Logic has learned.

The move could allow the government to pass its long-delayed online harms legislation without needing to make wholesale changes to account for the surge in the use of AI chatbots.

Details of the potential plan were included in a list of questions sent to members of the online safety advisory panel obtained by The Logic. In the questions, the Department of Canadian Heritage said the move would reflect the “urgency” to get the legislation passed without letting questions around how to specifically regulate AI slow the bill down.

The federal cabinet could instead “bring into force” rules for AI chatbots at a later date, according to the document, “after sufficient consultation and regulatory design.”

The government is also considering creating a digital regulator to better respond to safety issues surrounding rapidly emerging technologies including AI and specifically chatbots, according to the notes. The Liberals first promised online harms legislation in 2021 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, though its attempts have failed.

In an emailed statement, Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller’s press secretary Hermine Landry said the government hadn’t yet decided on whether it will exclude AI chatbots from its online harms legislation, or what if any further measures it will implement. “The expert panel will be mandated to examine these specific issues, among others, and we will have more details to share in due course,” she said. 

The government recently reconvened its 12-member advisory panel following the February mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people were killed, including shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, knew about Van Rootselaar’s conversations with the chatbot yet didn’t alert authorities, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. 

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the government may tighten legislation governing the technology should OpenAI fail to make changes to its safety protocols. Some experts are worried that privacy could be compromised if safety thresholds are too low. 

The panel, which is set to meet Miller later this week, will opine on whether the government should make it mandatory for the companies behind AI chatbots to report imminent threats of violence to the authorities. Ottawa is also considering a ban on social media for children aged 14 and younger, as well as the best methods to ensure the safety of children who play video games like Roblox, according to the list of questions.

The new online harms bill is expected to closely reflect the previous Liberal government’s Bill C-63, which never made it into law. That bill, first introduced in 2024, was stalled in Parliament over opposition concerns about government overreach and potential infringements on free speech. The new version of the law could be subject to the same hold ups. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner told The Logic she’d like to see the government take a different approach this time to better protect civil liberties and privacy.

She tabled her own vision for the bill in Parliament last year, and suggested the government change the way it defines online platforms so it can more nimbly respond to rapidly evolving technologies. “This is why I chose to use the term ‘online operator,’ a broader definition, so that legislation would outpace technology, as opposed to the other way around,” she said. 

In January, Miller told The Logic that he would consider adopting elements of Rempel Garner’s bill to help get it through Parliament, though she said his office has yet to make contact. Ottawa will also look overseas at how other countries are regulating technology firms and the products they make, he said. “It’s a question on whether a piece of legislation can actually achieve what it is intended to achieve in the era of AI,” Miller said in January. “It is a concern, and it’s something that I hope will get some insight from other jurisdictions as to how they’re tackling it.”