Some public service jobs will be cut as Ottawa adopts AI: chief data officer

People walk past an illuminated sign at the All In artificial intelligence conference on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, in Montreal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

OTTAWA — Ottawa’s chief data officer says he thinks the introduction of artificial intelligence to federal government operations will lead to “some” job cuts in the public service.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Stephen Burt said he thinks the impacts are going to vary widely and will be job-specific, with different outcomes in different areas.

While he wouldn’t identify the risk of job losses in specific areas of government, Burt said the goal will be to ensure employees receive opportunities to retrain and change jobs.

“I think there will be some, but I couldn’t tell you specifically right now what the magnitude of that is going to be or where it’s going to be felt most acutely,” Burt said when asked about job losses.

Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigned in the spring federal election on using AI to make the public service more efficient. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has asked his colleagues to identify cuts to program spending of 15 per cent over the next three years.

In August, the federal government signed an agreement with Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere to identify places where AI could enhance public service operations.

The government says it plans to launch a public registry to keep Canadians in the loop on its growing use of artificial intelligence, and to help it keep track of AI projects already underway. There is no timeline yet for the registry’s launch.

Different departments and agencies have been using AI for years for tasks like analyzing satellite imagery and weather forecasting, predicting the outcome of tax cases and sorting temporary visa applications.

Burt said AI is one of many tools the government is using to boost its efficiency.

“There are going to be many things being done to help enhance efficiency and focus across government and AI is just going to be one piece of it,” he said.

Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said in an email statement that AI “isn’t a shortcut to better public services.”

“Canadians need real help from real people — not chatbots, automated phone trees or AI dead ends,” DeSousa said.

DeSousa said AI won’t solve the core problems in departments and that cuts to the public service mean fewer services for people who need them.

“PM Carney must consult with unions and front line public service workers before rolling out AI across government,” DeSousa said.

Catherine Connelly is a professor and business research chair in the department of human resources and management at McMaster University. She said that when Canadians hear about AI in the public service, many fear a repeat of previous government debacles involving information technology, such as the Phoenix public service pay system and the ArriveCan app.

“It’s great that they are trying to be innovative and that they’re focusing on cost and that they’re focusing on performance and productivity,” she said. “It’s just that we’ve seen this before and I think it’s natural for Canadians to have some concerns about how this will be rolled out.”

Connelly said AI is not a good substitute for human decision-making and shouldn’t be deployed in any area where there’s a risk of liability, or in hiring decisions.

The federal government has said that in cases where AI use “can have significant impacts,” such as administrative decisions, its directive on automated decision-making requires an algorithmic impact assessment. Those assessments are then published in a public register.

Burt said the best thing the government can do to help employees get through any AI transition is to be clear in its communications.

“I think we need to be open with our employees where we do see those possibilities, and there’s lots of supports in place, through the various processes governments had established for a long time on how you manage workforce changes,” he said.

Burt added that the government spends “a fair amount of time” speaking to union bargaining agents about AI.

But Sean O’Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said the government isn’t keeping the union adequately informed about AI adoption.

“There’s a lot of informing the bargaining agents about AI when it does happen and it’s usually after the fact, before we’ve had any chance to consult,” O’Reilly said, adding that the union has reached out to offer Ottawa advice and guidance on AI use several times.

“There’s never been real meaningful consultation.”

O’Reilly said that while he welcomes the use of AI in government, he worries it will be introduced in a way that eliminates human judgment and jobs.

“I look at the work that public servants do in general, yes, I think there’s probably some mundane tasks that we could assign to artificial intelligence,” he said. “It would give the public servant the ability to get those off their plate.”

— With files from Anja Karadeglija

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press