Blake Fleischhaker, the ministry’s executive director of architecture and planning, explained the office’s purpose at an October 2026 procurement forum in Regina. “The AI office is going to be in place for us to build out our governance for AI, strategy, road maps and pretty much enable government to use AI responsibly,” he told CTV News.
Unions push for guardrails on AI and jobs
The provincial government says it has no intention of using AI to replace jobs, CTV News reported. AI could still surface in future bargaining.
At a Saskatchewan Federation of Labour meeting, Adam Conover, a Writers Guild of America member active in the 2023 writers’ strike, urged union members to negotiate strict guardrails. “What AI can do is really oversold. I think it can’t replace workers the way that the companies claim, but they can use it to try to make their product worse, lay people off,” he told CTV News.
The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU), with 20,000 members, has set out its expectations. In a May 22, 2026, statement on the sale of Information Services Corporation (ISC), it warned that cost pressure frequently leads to “automation without adequate worker protections” and demanded “meaningful safeguards and training surrounding technological changes.”
How other provinces manage AI in government
Other provinces moved first. Ontario, which calls itself the first province or territory with public sector AI guardrails, has required ministries and agencies to manage AI risks and report their AI use under a directive that took effect Dec. 1, 2024.