ETHI meeting 20 · 2025-12-01 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The committee studied the risks and governance of artificial intelligence, with a focus on superintelligence and regulatory approaches. Appearing were Connor Leahy and Gabriel Alfour of Conjecture Ltd., and Carole Piovesan of INQ Law.

Connor Leahy described superintelligent AI as a catastrophic global threat, warning that leading companies are racing to develop systems that could out-compete humans in all domains and resist control, while lacking understanding of how they work. He recommended that Canada recognize superintelligence as an extinction risk, negotiate an international treaty to prohibit its development, and prevent its development on Canadian soil, arguing that an uncontrolled race benefits no one.

Gabriel Alfour echoed that superintelligence poses an extinction risk and that AI systems are "grown" through data, not programmed, making their behaviour unpredictable. He called for halting superintelligence development domestically and for international agreements to regulate precursors like autonomous AI research, comparing the approach to nuclear and biotech regulation, and stressed that no country can control a superintelligent system once built.

Carole Piovesan advocated for a tailored, sectoral approach to AI governance inspired by the U.K. and Singapore, rather than a horizontal law like the EU AI Act. She recommended strengthening the Canadian AI Safety Institute, improving diversity in AI policy, and conducting an environmental scan to identify gaps in existing laws, emphasizing that regulation should target high-risk uses while enabling innovation. She disagreed with the earlier witnesses' call for a halt to superintelligence development, instead favouring iterative standards and real-world testing.

The meeting included no procedural debate, motions, or votes.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 3

Connor Leahy

Chief Executive Officer, Conjecture Ltd.

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to testify today. I'm an expert on the catastrophic global threats of AI and will primarily be speaking to you from this perspective. I am the CEO of Conjecture, which is an AI safety research firm. I'm also an adviser at ControlAI, which is a non-profit focused on mitigating the security risks posed by advanced AI. In 1985, humanity awakened to a hole in the sky. Scientists discovered that chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, were depleting the ozone layer, which shields humanity from damaging ultraviolet radiation. At the same time, humanity also lived atop a deep fracture—a cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that threatened nuclear annihilation. Amidst deep geopolitical tensions, the two superpowers ultimately shook hands, signing both a landmark nuclear de-escalation treaty and the Montreal Protocol in 1987 to prohibit and phase out CFCs. This protocol ultimately received universal ratification. Despite the world's divisions, these rival powers came together to mend a hole in the sky and to recognize that never-ending nuclear escalation was in no one's interest, and the rest of the world followed. In 2023,…

Full testimony ↗

Gabriel Alfour

Chief Technology Officer, Conjecture Ltd.

Opening remarks

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Gabriel Alfour. I'm the chief technology officer and co-founder of Conjecture, an AI safety research firm. I also helped found ControlAI, a non-profit dedicated to preventing risks to humanity from artificial intelligence. ControlAI has engaged lawmakers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and the EU. There are many complex and important challenges we face with AI, but in my personal and professional opinion, the most urgent one is the extinction risk posed by superintelligent AI. These are systems that vastly exceed human cognitive abilities and would be capable of out-competing us in scientific and military development, persuasion, politics, business and more. They would outsmart not just individuals, but corporations, national security establishments and governments. If built, they, not us, will be the force deciding the future. How did we get to this point with AI? First, the top experts from the field—the most cited AI scientists and the CEOs of the leading AI labs—warned in 2023 that “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”…

Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

Summary

Witnesses · 3

Bills mentioned