Some government jobs will be cut as Ottawa adopts AI, chief data officer says

Author(s): Morrison, C.

Date: 2025

Resource: The Globe and Mail.

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. […]

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. […]

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