Solomon considering age restrictions for chatbots in privacy bill

By: Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press Posted:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

MONTREAL - Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says his upcoming privacy bill could include age restrictions for chatbots to protect children.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2025 (296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL – Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says his upcoming privacy bill could include age restrictions for chatbots to protect children.

He says he is also considering including in the legislation the right to delete deepfakes.

Solomon maintains he hasn’t changed his mind about rejecting a wide-ranging regulatory approach to AI.

Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon gives remarks during the All In AI conference in Montreal on Thursday, Sept., 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon gives remarks during the All In AI conference in Montreal on Thursday, Sept., 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

But he says he is open to taking action on specific urgent and current issues.

Solomon says he is also open to feedback from both Canadians and a group of experts he has asked to work on updating Canada’s AI strategy.

He says 6,500 Canadians have weighed in on the federal government’s consultation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.

Related Articles

Amazon cuts 14,000 corporate jobs as spending on artificial intelligence accelerates
FILE - This Sept. 6, 2012, file photo, shows the Amazon logo. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

CAROLINE DESILETS PHOTO Kathryn Jezer-Morton

Rise of social media reflects rise of self-promotion — to the detriment of genuine storytelling

Reviewed by Matt Henderson 4 minute read Preview

Rise of social media reflects rise of self-promotion — to the detriment of genuine storytelling

Reviewed by Matt Henderson 4 minute read Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

A conversation is overheard between two people; one congratulates the other on their success, evident through countless posts on LinkedIn, but the other confesses the prolific aggrandizement is due to slumping success.

A young man on an airplane spends three hours poring over selfies taken on a vacation, zooming in on his biceps and using AI to retouch photos before posting on Instagram.

Anonymous and cowardly trolls on Reddit attempt to end another person’s career.

All this “storytelling” was observed in one day by this reviewer.

Read
Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

RCMP searching for missing 34-year-old woman

1 minute read Yesterday at 6:29 PM CDT

Police are asking for the public’s help locating a 34-year-old woman last heard from almost a week ago.

Tamara Stevens, who also goes by Tammy, was last heard from on Sunday last weekend and was reported missing Tuesday morning, said a Thompson RCMP news release Saturday.

RCMP and family are worried for her well-being.

Stevens is believed to be in Thompson and is described as 5'7, with a slender build and long red hair, said RCMP. She also has a piercing on her lip and was last seen wearing black T-Shirt featuring the Twilight character Jacob, pants and work boots.

Indomitable spirit

A Life's Story: Woman fought for better outcomes for others amid cancer fight

Janine LeGal 7 minute read Preview

A Life's Story: Woman fought for better outcomes for others amid cancer fight

Janine LeGal 7 minute read Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

Catherine Mary Burke was strong and motivated in ways many of us could never imagine.

She was known for fighting the good fight, and she fought as hard as she could for as long as she could. But something set her apart. Even when it was too late for her, she insisted cancer survival rates had to be better for other women. And they are today because of her fierce determination.

Burke died on Nov. 29, 2025, at age 67 after courageously facing breast cancer for more than a decade.

“Cathy was born happy,” said her husband, Patrick Burke. “She was a glass-half-full person. What a gift this attitude was to me and the boys. She never once said ‘Why me?’ or complained. She was just so happy to be alive.

Read
Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT
The shuttered Arlington Street Bridge in 2024. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

Corroded Arlington overpass yields way for new hope of spanning urban chasm

Melissa Martin 6 minute read Preview

Corroded Arlington overpass yields way for new hope of spanning urban chasm

Melissa Martin 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

It’s an interesting quirk of timing, perhaps, that the end of two of Winnipeg’s most unlovely features are coming into view in the same few weeks. The rail lines that split the city in half, and the bridge that was built to tie it back together. The original problem, and the solution.

And in the confluence of those two ends, we have an opportunity to dream of what a better Winnipeg can be.

At a news conference on Wednesday, former federal transport minister Lloyd Axworthy laid out a vision for a rail line bypass that would remove more than 120 railway crossings from Winnipeg, route them through Crown and Manitoba Hydro corridor land south of the city, and reclaim 250 acres in the urban core for greenspace and development.

The next step is to focus on how to make it happen. Nothing of this scope comes easy. This new bypass plan emerged from a two-year feasibility study that Premier Wab Kinew had tasked Axworthy with back in 2024. Now, Axworthy will helm a new 90-day feasibility study zooming in on that route specifically.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT
Pink and powerful

Rainbow Stage’s Legally Blonde a lovely legal musical

Holly Harris 6 minute read Preview

Rainbow Stage’s Legally Blonde a lovely legal musical

Holly Harris 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Omigod, you guys! Rainbow Stage kicked off its penultimate summer production Thursday with a high-octane joy machine bathed in a sea of pink.

Inspired by the 2001 Hollywood film starring Reese Witherspoon, and Amanda Brown’s same-titled novel, the award-winning Legally Blonde: The Musical — featuring a book by Heather Hach, with music/lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin — opened on Broadway in April 2007, followed by a subsequent West End run.

The tale — equal parts cheesy rom-com and potent siren call for female autonomy and empowerment — focuses on quintessential Cali-girl Elle Woods (a pitch-perfect Claire Mac Master). A proud daughter and president of Delta Nu sorority house, she enrols at Harvard Law School to win back her upwardly mobile ex-boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Duncan Cox).

Laser-focused on marrying a “Jackie, not a Marilyn,” Warner dreams of becoming an American senator, latching onto uber-preppy fellow pupil Vivienne Kensington (Julie Davis), who becomes Elle’s arch nemesis.

Read
Friday, Aug. 14, 2026