People hypothesized that this was due to the whole bill C-18 news thing[1], but since Google has capitulated and paid off the media, so that doesn't seem to be the reason, outside of maybe licking-wounds spite.
Canada has no unique privacy or other laws that apply to AI. If anything our protections are rather underwhelming compared to most peer countries -- we basically just echo whatever the US does -- so that certainly doesn't seem to be it. Such a weird, unexplained situation. At this point I just have to assume Pichai has some grievance with Canada or something.
Thankfully Google is a serious laggard in this realm. We have full access to OpenAI products, including through Microsoft properties, Perplexity, and various others. So, eh.
[1] - Like, literally, every Google employee/apologist in here claimed it was C-18. C-18 is basically settled for Google, so now it's...checks notes...that some government talking head once said they need to think about regulating AI, just like every single country and jurisdiction on the planet. Add the tried and true "Canada's just too small a market" bit that somehow is used when Google is busy pandering to markets a small fraction of the size.
The problem in Canada is layers of legal uncertainty. Quebec recently passed Bill 64, which purports to regulate applications of AI. The Federal government is in second reading of bill C-27, which will impose an onerous regulatory regime on AI. (It is unclear if forthcoming amendments will prohibit open source AI tools entirely.) On top of that, the Federal privacy commissioner and five provincial privacy commissioners are currently investigating whether to sanction OpenAI under PIPEDA and various provincial privacy laws.
It's too small of a market for the level of legal risk, unless the upside is huge, which it isn't for at least the public-facing version of Bard.
Anthropic's Claude also isn't available in Canada, likely for similar reasons.
>The problem in Canada is layers of legal uncertainty.
Every government on the planet has laws which "might" apply to AI, for which one could claim "uncertainty". The EU's privacy protections make Quebec's bill 64 look positively pedestrian.
Pointing to various government agencies making noise about something is just a meaningless distraction. Again, literally every government on the planet has someone who says maybe they should think about maybe considering.
Canada walks in lockstep with the US on virtually all matters. As a US company, Google even has special protections in Canada under NAFTAv2 that they have nowhere else on the planet.
And again, this all seemingly is zero concern for Microsoft or OpenAI, among many others. I guess those scary Quebec laws (that don't even apply) aren't as formidable as held.
"Anthropic's Claude also isn't available in Canada, likely for similar reasons."
Claude is unavailable on most of the planet, and seems to be a capacity issue more than anything else. Bard is available pretty much everywhere on the planet but Canada. Like at this point it is very obvious that it's "personal".
As to the too small of a market claims, this is always such a weird one. Bard operates in much, much smaller markets. All of which have onerous regulations and are having the rumblings of scary new restrictions on AI.
>Canada walks in lockstep with the US on virtually all matters.
On the topic of AI regulation, if you look at Bill C-27 and Canada's involvement in the ongoing Council of Europe negotiations towards a treaty on AI, Canada is currently aligned much more closely to the EU's AI Act. The same goes for privacy law; PIPEDA is closer in spirit to the GDPR but even more ambiguous and in some need of modernization.
And as we've seen with today's announcement, which also excludes the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK, Google's approach to regulatory risks associated with AI appears to be a cautious one.
>And again, this all has seemingly is zero concern for Microsoft or OpenAI...
Microsoft is willing to shoulder the legal risks because they have a solid revenue stream through Azure OpenAI services. OpenAI itself will just block Canada if the regulatory authorities get too aggressive, like they did temporarily in Italy until a deal was reached.
>And as we've seen with today's announcement, which also excludes the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK
I'm unsure what this is referencing. Bard (and thus Gemini Pro) is available in all of the EEA, Switzerland and the UK.
>OpenAI itself will just block Canada if the regulatory authorities get too aggressive
So Google has withheld Bard from Canada for a year+ because maybe at some future point Canada might have some burdensome AI legislation (if some toothless bills that are unlikely to ever receive ascent might take some future form eventually), and this is validated because OpenAI can withdraw their service if at some point Canada might have some burdensome AI legislation.
>I'm unsure what this is referencing. Bard (and thus Gemini Pro) is available in all of the EEA, Switzerland and the UK.
I'm referring to today's release of Imagen2 within Bard. If you check the Google Support page, it says: "Image generation in Bard is available in most countries, except in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK."
> Canada has no unique privacy or other laws that apply to AI
Canada has plenty of unique laws, whether or not they apply to ai is a question yet to be answered. It seems pretty reasonable to me for google to take a cautious approach to our unique legal landscape
>whether or not they apply to ai is a question yet to be answered
Yet Google has never said a peep on this. Can you name one such "unique law" that would prohibit Google but somehow is no issue for other vendors?
>It seems pretty reasonable to me for google to take a cautious approach
Bard is available in over a hundred countries, all with "unique" laws. Bard is available across the EU which has dramatically more comprehensive personal privacy and rights laws.
Wouldn't apply to online services. At least, I don't think it would since it never stopped anyone else from providing English only websites or online services. The 101 law applies more to physical storefronts, employers, etc.