Artificial Intelligence 101

Audience: Executive Leadership

Duration: 0.5 Day

Delivery: Virtual or in-person

Course description:

This course gives senior leaders a strategic grounding in what AI is, how its core methods and agentic systems operate, and the security, ethical, and Government of Canada policy frameworks required to employ AI responsibly across defence, operational and administrative environments.

Course overview:

• The history of Artificial Intelligence (AI) - How AI has evolved and why its accelerating capabilities matter for defence modernization, readiness, and decision making

• Drivers and requirements for AI in the Government of Canada - the strategic pressures pushing federal adoption of AI (modernization, efficiency, service delivery) and the mandatory requirements that govern its use.

• Navigating the technology landscape – AI and other technologies explained through simple, behind‑the‑scenes examples, specifically:

  • Artificial Intelligence approaches (e.g., Symbolic & Rule Based, Generative / Deep Learning, Predictive & Decision, Perceptual etc.)

  • Data Mining and Machine Learning approaches (Deep Learning, Supervised & Unsupervised Learning, Reinforcements & Probabilistic Learning etc.)

  • Other Data Science methods (Bayesian stats, modeling, game theory etc.)

• Overview of Agentic AI - how autonomous, goal‑driven systems operate and what they enable (and risk) in military, operational and administrative environments

• Overview of security, privacy and ethics - The concepts that shape responsible AI use.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain what Artificial Intelligence is and how its major analytical and agentic methods operate

• Describe how AI has evolved and why accelerating capabilities matter for modernization and decision‑advantage

• Identify the strategic drivers pushing AI adoption across the Government of Canada and the mandatory requirements that govern its use

• Distinguish between key AI, machine learning, data mining, and data science approaches and understand when each is relevant

• Understand the fundamentals of agentic AI and the opportunities and risks autonomous, goal‑driven systems introduce in defence, operational, and administrative contexts

• Recognize core security, privacy, and ethical considerations that shape responsible AI use in national‑security environments

• Interpret AI concepts through simple, behind‑the‑scenes examples that support informed oversight, governance, and executive‑level decision‑making