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AI-Powered Service Recommendations for Canadian Businesses

Wayfinding & Services · Marketing & Personalization

What it collects

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Curated, unclassified datasets covering government programs related to financing, innovation, licensing, permits, and government marketing initiatives. No personal information is included.
About behaviour
Anonymized data
  • Business profile information provided by the user, such as sector, stage of business, or areas of interest, used to generate personalized service recommendations. The register states no personal information is collected.
Run by
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
No data retained
Shared with
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Your copy
You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Wayfinding & ServicesMarketing & Personalization

This AI system helps Canadian business owners find relevant federal, provincial, and territorial programs and services by matching their business profile to personalized recommendations. It uses large language models to navigate thousands of government resources and surface the most relevant options. The system does not process personal information — it works with unclassified, publicly available datasets about government services. AI use is disclosed to users of the Canada Business App.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Curated, unclassified datasets covering government programs related to financing, innovation, licensing, permits, and government marketing initiatives. No personal information is included.
About behaviour
Anonymized data
  • Business profile information provided by the user, such as sector, stage of business, or areas of interest, used to generate personalized service recommendations. The register states no personal information is collected.

Processing

Language Models
  • Large language models (LLMs) are used to match business profiles to relevant government programs and services, enabling personalised recommendations across thousands of resources.
Recommendation & Ranking
  • The system ranks and recommends relevant government programs from a curated dataset, personalising the results based on the business profile provided by the user.

What it does

Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • Large language models match business profiles to relevant government services and programs by understanding the business context, with users choosing which recommendations to act on.
Deciding (Analytical AI)
Human decides
  • The system scores and ranks government programs and services for relevance to the user's business profile, presenting a shortlist without making any binding decisions on behalf of the user.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • Personalised list of government programs and services matched to the user's business profile. These are advisory recommendations; the user decides which to pursue. No personal data is embedded in the output.

Run by

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
  • Federal department responsible for deploying and operating the Canada Business App and its AI-powered recommendation feature.

Canada Business App AI Register Entry

Built by

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Kept for

No data retained
  • No personal information is collected or retained by this system. The register explicitly states: 'Involves personal information: N'.
  • Duration: No personal data collected

Shared with

Not available to me
  • The system does not collect or store personal information. As a result, there is no personal data held about individual users that could be accessed or retrieved.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Be Informed of AI UseUsers of the Canada Business App are informed that AI is used to generate service recommendations. The register confirms: 'AI use disclosed to users: Y'.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyThe system's use of large language models to match business profiles to government services is disclosed publicly through the Government of Canada's AI Register, available at open.canada.ca.

Risks and safeguards

  • Financial & business harmRisk that incorrect or incomplete recommendations cause a business to miss relevant funding or licensing programs, or to pursue unsuitable ones. Mitigated by the advisory (non-binding) nature of recommendations, which a user verifies independently before acting. The system is in development; testing and evaluation are implied before full deployment.
  • Societal & cultural harmRisk that LLM-based recommendations disadvantage certain types of businesses, sectors, or regions by systematically surfacing some programs over others. Mitigated by using curated, unclassified datasets managed by the Government of Canada and by the advisory-only nature of recommendations. Ongoing monitoring is expected as the system matures.