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OTTAWA — The Trudeau government’s drive to transform Canada into an artificial-intelligence superpower is stirring warnings about the possible dark sides of a technology with vast — and largely unknown — potential.

Among the concerns that surfaced this week: “killer robots.”

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Known more formally as lethal autonomous weapons systems, the spectre of deadly-efficient technology came up during an open caucus meeting of Senate Liberals who were exploring the pros and cons of AI and robotics.

Expert panellists at the meeting each nodded to the positives associated with these technologies, but there were also calls for Ottawa to develop a well-defined national AI plan.

The feds were also urged to proceed with caution.

“The same underlying AI that can be engines of creation can also be engines of destruction,” Ian Kerr, who holds a Canada Research Chair in ethics, law and technology at the University of Ottawa, told senators Wednesday in his opening statement.