What Competition Law for a Healthy AI Market?

Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are introducing new challenges for competition regulators who are inadequately positioned to detect and address anti-competitive impacts of AI. In this context, the failure to take regulatory actions risks allowing dominant companies to extend their dominance into AI, other markets where they hold asymmetric advantages, and new spaces adjacent to existing business lines. 

This panel will provide a background on the scale of Big Tech and anti-competitive behaviours and delve into the role of the Competition Bureau and the changes to the Competition Act considering these new developments in Canada and around the world. The panel will also consider the effectiveness of using competition law to curb Big Tech's and digital platforms anti-competitive and monopolistic behaviours.   

This conversation will notably discuss the Competition Bureau 2024 White Paper on AI and competition, including the submission led by GoodBot highlighting critical issues that must be addressed to ensure that already-dominant platforms and AI companies do not further entrench dominance in ways that harm markets, domestic innovation, consumers and policy.

About the speakers

Renee Black is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoodBot which launched in 2023 to advance proactive digital policy and inclusive technology futures where democratic societies can thrive. Renee has a track record of developing innovative strategies to address complex and emerging challenges at the intersection of digital and AI technologies via multi-stakeholder engagement and solutions development.

Vass Bednar is the executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program. Her work focuses on the intersections between policy and the innovation ecosystem. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and writes the popular newsletter “regs to riches.” Vass Bednar is a contributing columnist at The Globe and Mail and the host of their podcast, Lately.

Jennifer A Quaid, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa, where she teaches criminal law, competition law and business law. Widely recognized for her scholarly contributions and public policy engagement, Prof. Quaid’s expertise is centered on the use of law and regulation to enhance business accountability and to promote responsible management and commercial practices.

Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau is the University Research Chair in Technology and Society and the Director of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa, where he is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. He is the Director of the AI + Society Initiative, and a Faculty Associate of the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.