Canada’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence Evan Solomon defended his meetings with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the past year during an AI funding announcement in Montreal today.

Solomon and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced an investment of up to $1.6 billion in Canadian AI company Cohere, with Carney stating that the company “will stay Canadian.”

However, Solomon has also held talks regarding AI development and cooperation with a number of foreign states, including some that have weaponized AI to commit war crimes and/or other alleged abuses.

When asked about a meeting he held with Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed in January, Solomon said: “We have met with many countries around the world. I have been obviously travelling the Middle East extensively.”

“We were in the U.A.E., and we welcomed a delegation. We’ve been in Qatar, we’ve been in Saudi Arabia.”

“I did have a meeting with the Israeli ambassador as we meet with many ambassadors to discuss ongoing issues. That was one of them.”

“We will continue to build out, as we have today, Canadian technology in a safe, appropriate, reliable way.”

Israel has extensively used AI for targeting purposes during its genocide in Gaza and its military operations in the occupied West Bank.

This technology includes “Lavender,” which is used to create automated “kill lists,” and “Where’s Daddy?,” a tracking system which alerts Israeli forces to strike when Palestinian men return home to their families.

Solomon travelled to the U.A.E. and Qatar last year, and in the former he signed an agreement to develop “the sharing of technical expertise, support for investment in advanced technology, and collaboration on the development and deployment of safe and responsible AI.”

The U.A.E. faces significant scrutiny over its use of AI, as the Gulf monarchy has previously deployed unlawful hacking and surveillance technologies against political opponents. Qatar has faced scrutiny for similar uses of such technology.

This week, the Carney government signed a number of additional MOUs with the U.A.E., including on military affairs.

The U.A.E. is widely accused of funding and arming the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, which has carried out massacres against civilians since April 2023.

In a statement, Rachel Small with the advocacy group World Beyond War said: “The Canadian government’s decision … to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation with the U.A.E. is shameful and unjustifiable.”

“The U.A.E. military has played a well documented and horrific role in supporting war crimes in Sudan and Yemen. It’s completely unacceptable for Canada to be rewarding this military with increased cooperation and support instead of holding them to account.”

Solomon visited Saudi Arabia in February. An official statement published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada said: “Discussions focused on advancing practical cooperation in AI, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies.”

“Both sides noted the strong fit between Canada’s AI strengths and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 priorities, including building domestic capability, expanding compute and data systems, and accelerating innovation-driven economic growth.”

Saudi Arabia, in addition to using AI to surveil its own population, has reportedly used American AI-targeting systems to combat the militant group Ansar Allah in Yemen.

Since 2014, Saudi Arabia’s attacks on Yemen have resulted in the deaths of more than 377,000 people.