Federal govt. will not adopt Montreal AI institute's COVID-19 contact-tracing app

Montreal-based artificial intelligence institute Mila's COVI app for iOS and Android was ready to roll out last month, but a new report from The Logic says the government opted out of using this COVID-19 contact-tracing app. 

Mila CEO Valérie Pisano told the publication that the government is choosing to use other contact-tracing technology. But the institute is ready to help if they are needed.

An unnamed source told The Logic that the federal government was concerned about the information Mila's app collects. It uses data like age, sex, health conditions, symptoms, risk level, test results, and coarse geographical location to leverage its AI capabilities. The app comes with a consent option to anonymously send data to COVI—with your data being stored for up to three months. 

Deep-learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio, who led the development of COVI, told the Montreal Gazette previously that the app wouldn't ask for names, phone numbers, or email addresses. It will require users to activate localization and Bluetooth functions. He further emphasized that they would not collect data or "ask for anything to make users identifiable."

Bengio has also mentioned before that most of the information will stay on the user's phones.

"We took extreme precautions. It's crucial for all of us at Mila to design AI that's both socially responsible and ethical," he said.

It's expected that the federal government might opt to use Apple and Google's contact-tracing tech. The Logic's source claims some provinces want a less complicated solution, like Apple and Google's offering.

Source: iPhone in Canada