Project summary

We are the Canadian chapter of PauseAI, a civic movement advocating for an international pause on the development of the most powerful AI systems until they can be built safely and kept under democratic control.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

We want the Canadian government to support an international treaty that will prohibit the development of uncontrollable superintelligent AI systems through a coordinated global pause on frontier AI training.

To achieve this goal, we will work to change the national conversation about AI, so that Federal policy better reflects the view of the majority of Canadians, who want to see strong AI regulation even if it slows development.

Our action plan has four key components:

• Establishing a strong media presence via online content creation and briefings to journalists and policymakers.
• Organizing regular talks, workshops and protests in major Canadian cities.
• Connecting with and mobilizing members of AI safety and alignment clubs in Canadian universities, and eventually found our own clubs.
• Improving our online infrastructure for communications, political outreach and volunteer coordination so as to quickly scale all our activities.

How will this funding be used?

PauseAI Canada is currently based in Montreal. Our first funding priority will be to expand our reach by establishing a second chapter in Toronto and covering its activities.

Additional funds will cover core leadership salaries, fund regular public events, and help us build our media operation and scale our grassroots organizing across Canada.

You may find more details on funding allocation and a breakdown of different funding scenarios in our Donor prospectus: PauseAI-Canada-Donor-Prospectus.pdf

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Jeremy Eliosoff
Founder and National Leader

Jeremy founded PauseAI Montreal and leads PauseAI Canada. He organized our demonstration at Google’s Montreal office and our protest at Phillips Square, and he hosts our monthly national call and our social evenings in Montreal. Jeremy was born in Montreal. He studied studio arts at Concordia University and computer animation at Sheridan College, and has worked in visual effects for film, television and live theatre ever since. He is also a painter.

Muhammad Zane
Toronto Lead

Muhammad leads PauseAI Toronto. He works on AI safety full time and is working on Pacing Research, which studies how frontier AI development can be deliberately paced. He has worked as a quantitative analyst at ABL Funds and Dana Inc, on post-training at Bordrs, and on model welfare at Latent Minds.

Olivier Gourment
Senior IT Lead

Olivier built PauseAI.ca’s bilingual learning and action tools. He has 20 years experience as a software organizations manager and management coach. He also has extensive experience in grassroots organizing. He has built the website to help volunteers welcome newcomers, sustain participation and grow local groups, using open-source software.

In the last year, PauseAI Canada has:

• Demonstrated outside Google’s Montreal office, demanding that Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis commit publicly to pausing frontier AI development if the other leading labs do the same.
• Organized a protest attended by around 40 people in Montreal’s Phillips Square to call on Prime Minister Mark Carney to support an international treaty banning superintelligent AI.
• Built a web page tracking AI cybersecurity incidents after the Hugging Face incident, with a tool that helps citizens contact their MP to voice their concerns about rogue agents.
• Held public discussions and flyering sessions all across Montreal.
• Begun organizing in Toronto, running a booth at an AI safety event attended by over 150 people.
• Rebuilt pauseai.ca this summer to help Canadians understand AI risks and act on them, in French and English. More than 2,000 visitors have engaged with its learning and action tools, which connect explanations of AI risks to resources and an editable letter to their MP. (Website dashboard, October 13: 2,610 browser or account profiles.)
• Run a monthly national call and regular community-building events in Montreal.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Our efforts to effect a national policy change towards a coordinated global AI pause is running counter to a Federal strategy prioritizing rapid AI adoption as key to Canada’s economic competitiveness.

So far, Canadian AI policy has been influenced by powerful industry lobbying efforts far more than by the concerns of ordinary citizens. It is possible that our efforts will not be sufficient to bridge this gap, though we remain confident that if even a small percentage of the citizens who share our concerns were empowered to act, AI policy in Ottawa would look quite different.

As AI issues gain more salience in the media, disinformation and polarization will likely amplify and hinder our efforts to inform and mobilize the Canadian public. We hope that having a better media presence will help us mitigate these factors and contribute to a more factual and sane discourse on AI policy in Canada.

Lastly, even if we achieve our aim of getting the Canadian government to support a coordinated international pause on frontier AI training, this will only be the beginning of a significant diplomatic battle, which will no doubt be marked by strong opposition from the leading AI powers. Without buy-in from China and the US, this effort might ultimately fail, though we are encouraged by Canada’s strong track record in brokering international agreements, such as the 1997 Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel landmines and the 1987 Montreal Protocol banning ozone-depleting CFCs.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

Apart from around 1130$ in microgrants from PauseAI global, and a 1000$CAD individual donation, all of our expenses have been funded by our volunteers.