Experts See AI as Catalyst for Faster Delivery of Strategic Public Projects
A Calgary tech company says artificial intelligence could help cut down on the time, money and manpower needed to shepherd complex nation-building projects from early development through to regulatory hearings.
Ultimarii — a play on the Latin word for finishing a job — has developed an AI-enabled platform that can create a “regulatory road map” in minutes, said co-founder Doug Schweitzer, a former Alberta cabinet minister.
That includes plotting out what approvals and permits are needed and an assessment of potential risks.
“You can assess full feasibility in minutes. That would have taken months of work with conventional systems,” Schweitzer said.
“And we have the ability to forecast which type of questions you’re likely going to receive so you can tighten up and improve your materials.”
It can also draft responses to those questions, a task that would otherwise take a “small army of professionals” to complete.
So far, Ultimarii has mapped out the entire Canadian regulatory system from major federal watchdogs to municipal bylaws, and is also making forays into the U.S. It has 20 customers ranging from oilsands companies to utilities to national law firms.
Co-founder Josh Malate says the company is also working on some “proof of concept” activities with regulators on how they might be able to use it on their end.
Schweitzer said a key tenet of Ultimarii’s offering is that humans are in the drivers’ seat.
“You have to trust but verify the outputs that AI systems provide you. Treat it the same way you would treat a junior professional,” he said.
“If you had a new articling student as a legal professional, you wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, hand in that legal brief to the Supreme Court.’ You would go through multiple layers of review.”
The Alberta government plans to submit a proposal for a West Coast bitumen pipeline next spring to the new Major Projects Office, established through recent federal legislation aimed at speeding along infrastructure deemed in the national interest.
Alberta deputy energy minister Larry Kaumeyer, co-chair of an advisory group helping to put together the government’s proposal, said the province plans to enlist the services of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, one of Canada’s three AI institutes.
“We are hoping to finalize an agreement with them at some point shortly, whereby they could build a model in support of making some of those decisions given the complexity of all the details that would need to go into a route selection,” Kaumeyer told reporters earlier this month.
“AMII is always here to leverage its world-leading expertise to help advance provincial and national priorities,” said spokeswoman Lynda Vang in an email. However, she declined to provide further details.
Meanwhile, the Canada Energy Regulator is looking to make its decision-making more efficient, clear and consistent. It said in a Red Tape Review Report published in September that AI could support those efforts.
Amanda Fedorchuk, a spokeswoman for the regulator said it’s too early to provide specifics on what that might look like.
“Nevertheless, we recognize the significant opportunities and value in leveraging AI and are actively working to thoroughly understand and evaluate the benefits and risks associated with this technology before implementing it in the adjudication process,” she said.
Terri-Lee Oleniuk, a partner at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP who leads the firm’s energy regulatory practice in Calgary, said a big challenge in recent years has been the overwhelming volume of information that goes into a project application.
“The application itself is typically thousands and thousands of pages of technical reports, modelling, environmental studies,” she said.
Oleniuk said she could see regulators using AI to identify gaps in an application, review whether it complies with current standards and if calculations are accurate.
“That’s the low-hanging fruit in terms of using AI in the regulatory proceeding,” she said.
Where it gets more dicey is the possibility of using that technology in decision-making. It’s something that courts have been grappling with, Oleniuk said.
Regulators deciding whether a project is in the public interest must weigh economic, environmental and social impacts.
“That’s something that requires a high degree of judgment, and I don’t think it’s something that lends itself particularly well to automated decision-making,” Oleniuk said.
“So I think decision-makers need to retain the ability to make those types of very complex, nuanced decisions.”
Nevertheless, she said “time is of the essence” for regulators to figure out how to responsibly deploy AI.
“We shouldn’t be scared of it. We should start thinking about ways that it can help us.”
This article was first reported by The Canadian Press
Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
