Canada is stepping up its efforts on the global stage to ensure artificial intelligence develops in a way that benefits all nations not just the wealthiest ones. David Lametti, Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, has made AI governance a central focus of his work in New York, dedicating up to 15 percent of his time to the issue since taking office last November.
Lametti, a former federal justice minister and McGill University law professor with a long history in AI policy, believes the UN is uniquely positioned to lead this conversation. In his view, it is the only institution capable of bringing tech giants like Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple to the same table as the world’s 190-plus nations on something close to equal footing.
“AI governance is something that the UN has a responsibility to do,” Lametti said, stressing that countries across the developing world are worried about being sidelined as the technology races forward.
That anxiety is particularly sharp among emerging economies in Asia, who fear becoming passive recipients of technology shaped entirely by wealthier nations. Lametti says there is broad consensus around the need for safety guardrails, but also a strong push from smaller countries for a genuine seat at the table when the rules are being written.
These concerns echoed at the recent G7 summit in France, where leading economies wrestled with how to regulate AI platforms without choking economic growth a balancing act that has no easy answers.
Lametti is bringing Canada’s voice into several of these forums. Next month, he heads to Geneva for the AI for Good Global Summit, building on a series of initiatives he has already led from the Canadian UN mission. In May, he hosted the chair of the International AI Safety Report for a discussion on how middle powers can promote responsible AI use. That report flagged a wide range of risks tied to unchecked AI development, from information manipulation and cyberattacks to potential misuse in developing dangerous weapons.
Canada has also been pushing the equity angle hard. Last June, Lametti’s predecessor co-hosted a panel with Brazil examining how AI can empower marginalized communities including Indigenous peoples, women and people with disabilities while also sounding the alarm on how the same technology could deepen existing inequalities if left ungoverned.
Lametti, appointed by Prime Minister Mark Carney after serving as his principal secretary, brings a personal conviction to this portfolio. He worked on AI policy long before it became a mainstream political priority and sees his current role as a natural extension of that work.
“I think I’ve got particular experience there that will be useful to Canada and to the world,” he said.
While Lametti is keeping several of his predecessor Bob Rae’s priorities alive notably a working group focused on Haiti’s economic recovery and democratic transition amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis driven by gang violence, he has shifted focus away from some of Rae’s commitments in Asia, including advocacy around the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
He is careful to frame this not as a retreat, but as a deliberate choice about where Canada’s influence can be felt most.
With AI evolving faster than most governments can legislate, Lametti’s work at the UN may prove to be some of the most consequential diplomacy Canada engages in over the coming years shaping not just technology policy, but the broader question of who gets to decide the future.
