Benjamin Faveri (Carleton University) , Brie Bhasin (University of Ottawa)
Policy coherence is often looked at within one nation between each level of government and is favoured over incoherence as it can provide better services from firms and governments, simpler operational landscapes for firms, and consistent expectations of those services for people within that nation. Conversely, policy incoherence can lead to increased competition between firms or governments, leading to an arms-race dynamic that can also be beneficial for consumers. In the AI field, policy coherence across nations (horizontal policy coherence) and between regions and the nations within them (vertical policy coherence) can offer simpler operating landscapes for firms and governments. Nations and regions have been publishing their AI strategies since 2017. As these and other nations and regions navigate an increasingly complex AI policy, governance, and legal landscape, policy designers tasked with developing and responding to AI policy need a comprehensive understanding of what policy design elements these AI strategies contain, if they are becoming more or less (in)coherent, and when and where that (in)coherence is occurring. Gaining this understanding allows policy designers to accurately develop and respond to ongoing AI policy efforts, avoid policy conflicts with other countries within their regions, and provide a consistent policy landscape for improved government and firm operations. This research advances the policy coherence literature by mixing policy design theory and vertical and horizontal policy coherence analysis and provides policy designers a comprehensive understanding of all AI strategies as they design new or update existing AI strategies.