Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Warns Against Overreliance on U.S. AI Providers

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney cautioned on Sunday about the risks of depending too heavily on a limited number of American artificial intelligence (AI) providers. This warning came after the U.S. government implemented new restrictions on Anthropic's latest AI models.

AI company Anthropic announced that it had taken its newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline. This action was taken to comply with a directive from the Trump administration, which aims to prevent their use by foreign nationals. This move represents the U.S. government's most significant step to date in restricting access to advanced AI models. Anthropic had widely released Fable but maintained tightly limited access to the more advanced Mythos due to cybersecurity concerns, describing it as "strikingly capable" and able to surpass human cybersecurity experts.

Speaking in Ireland ahead of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Carney highlighted the situation with Mythos and Fable as an example of what can occur with overreliance. He stated, "It is never a good idea to have one option," and stressed the necessity for nations to diversify their AI options and not passively accept such situations. Artificial intelligence is expected to be a major topic of discussion at the G7 summit on Monday.

Carney also connected these U.S. AI restrictions to Canada's broader strategic goal of diversifying its trade and technology partnerships. More than 70% of Canada's exports currently go to the U.S., and Carney has set a target for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports within the next decade. Discussions regarding the renewal of the USMCA free trade agreement are also anticipated at the G7 summit among principal negotiators, rather than a bilateral meeting between Carney and Trump.

According to Fortune, Carney had a 45-minute discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron about artificial intelligence on Friday night.