AI projects speeding up across Quebec’s public agencies

The Quebec government logo on a building in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The number of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in Quebec’s public administration has jumped 54 per cent in less than a year, with the health network and the higher-education sector accounting for more than half of all projects.

That’s according to the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology (MCN), which released its latest overview of AI use by public bodies on its website.

As of last June, the number of AI initiatives across Quebec’s public service stood at 258, up from 168 in October 2024. Just over half of these projects were fully operational, while 45 per cent were still in development.

The increase in the use of this technological tool in the public administration “can be explained by several converging factors,” the MCN says.

“AI solutions are now more accessible and better adapted to the needs of public bodies, which are turning to them more and more to improve the quality of services offered to the population or to automate certain tasks,” the ministry said in an email.

It also noted that the trend aligns with the government’s priorities around modernizing the state and advancing digital transformation.

Strengthened guidelines around this technology have also “helped increase confidence among public bodies by offering them a clear and reassuring framework for project development,” the ministry said.

Last December, the MCN published new measures to regulate the use of generative AI by public bodies and updated its principles for responsible AI use.

With these guidelines, which specify, among other things, “expectations around risk assessment,” public bodies are “more comfortable exploring or deploying AI solutions in their operations,” the ministry said.

Public bodies are increasingly turning to AI. Last spring, 83 bodies reported having initiatives in this area, up from 65 eight months earlier, a 30 per cent increase the MCN attributes in part to a wider democratization of AI use.

Health sector leads the list

About one-third of the initiatives (81) involved planning, prediction and decision support. These can include tools that help establish a medical diagnosis or identify students who are struggling, the MCN says.

For example, the Ministry of Education has put in place a solution “to predict the risks and factors associated with dropping out from Grade 6 through Secondary 5.”

Another example, on the health side: a pilot project by the Ministry of Health and Social Services is developing a model to map patient flow in hospitals. The goal is to reduce the average stay in emergency rooms and cut wait times before a patient gets a hospital bed.

The second most common type of AI solution was assistants or conversational agents, with 68 initiatives. Other categories included automation (36), image processing or medical imaging (27), and geomatics and geospatial management (22).

The health and social services network is among “the most active portfolios” in AI, representing about one-third of all declared initiatives, according to the MCN’s overview. It is followed by higher education, with 58 projects across several cégeps and universities.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests ranks third with 26 initiatives.

The MCN also reports that 61 AI projects were aimed at citizen service delivery.

More to come

According to the ministry, “everything suggests” that the growth in AI use in public administration “will continue over the next year.”

“AI technologies continue to evolve rapidly, while the needs of public bodies keep growing. As public bodies improve their ability to adopt these technologies, the conditions are favourable for new initiatives to emerge,” it said.

The ministry reiterated that the “more firmly established” framework for responsible AI use “allows for a more structured uptake while ensuring AI is deployed safely and responsibly” by public bodies.

Since a ministerial order adopted in February 2024, public bodies have been required to report any AI project or initiative to the MCN each year. Only cybersecurity-related initiatives are not detailed in the government’s public overview.

By Frédéric Lacroix-Couture

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 22, 2026.