
U.S. lawyer targeted by Trump cautions Canada on AI and attacks on dissent
VANCOUVER — An American lawyer stripped of his security clearance by U.S. President Donald Trump says Canadians need to be vigilant about attacks on political freedom south of the border.
Mark Zaid, a speaker at the Web Summit Vancouver tech conference, said he never expected to get “attacked” by a sitting president over the work he’s done in his three decades practising law, representing clients from the worlds of intelligence and national security.
He said Canadians need to be wary of the rise of artificial intelligence that could be used to either target political dissent or shield it, warning that it’s hard to prevent attacks on democratic norms, rather than react to them.
Zaid said that there were rumours in Washington about how AI was potentially used to sniff out anti-Trump dissent.