Canada urged to lead health AI alliance

Future geopolitical rivalries may center on control of data and artificial intelligence, with health data and AI systems driving the next wave of medical breakthroughs and shaping healthcare’s future.

Algorithms that identify cancers earlier, allocate hospital resources, and accelerate drug discovery will help respond to pandemics or health system crises. For Canada, this presents both a risk and an opportunity.

Canada’s Position in Health AI

Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned that the global order is fracturing, pushing countries to rethink economic and technological sovereignty. Health AI belongs in that conversation, but Canada cannot compete head-to-head with the United States or China in a brute-force race for AI dominance.

Instead, Canada should lead the creation of an ecosystem among middle powers for health AI, built on shared and technology platforms. Canada possesses one of the world’s most valuable health-data assets, due to its single-payer health system and diverse population. This unique combination of diversity and comprehensiveness, across 42 million people, matters enormously for health AI, as many existing AI systems are trained on relatively small and homogeneous populations, raising concerns about bias when applied elsewhere.

Benefits of a Middle-Power Alliance

A middle-power consortium could mitigate dependence on either the American or Chinese ecosystems and have enormous financial consequences. The global health AI market is projected to exceed US$1-trillion within the next decade.

International health-data collaboration is essential for better patient care, reducing AI bias and improving fairness. Shared AI systems could have far-reaching consequences for the health system, from improving medical triage to strengthening pandemic preparedness.

In an era of worsening political division, health AI collaboration may also prove politically valuable and sustainable. Few issues command broader public support than improving health care.

Canada’s Role in Shaping the Future of Health AI

Canada is a country that historically has exerted influence through coalition building and institution creation. This is precisely the kind of moment where that identity matters. Canada should lead the creation of a middle-power alliance for health AI, leveraging its unique strengths and assets to shape the future of health care. Furthermore, the infrastructure of 21st-century medicine is being built today, and Canada has the opportunity to make a significant impact in the development of health AI and shape the future of health care.