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In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-299, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ("CRTC") clarified the role that artificial intelligence ("AI") will play in its modernized framework for certifying Canadian programs under the Broadcasting Act. While the Commission was not prepared to adopt a detailed AI-specific regime, it articulated a clear organizing principle: key creative functions that attract Canadian content points must be performed by humans, even where AI tools are used in the production process. The decision reflects an effort to preserve Canadian creative control while maintaining flexibility for emerging technologies.
What Is the CRTC's Modernized Certification Framework for "Canadian Programs"?
The CRTC's modernized certification framework determines whether a program qualifies as a "Canadian program" for the purposes of broadcasting regulation. Certification functions as both a cultural and economic policy instrument, supporting Canadian storytelling, creative industries, and domestic employment.
Under the framework, productions are assessed against a series of criteria that allocate points to key creative functions, such as writing, directing, and other core creative roles.1 The accumulation of sufficient points allows a program to be certified as Canadian and to benefit from associated regulatory advantages and obligations within the broadcasting system.2
The CRTC reaffirmed that the framework is designed to ensure that Canadian stories are told from a Canadian perspective, and that Canadian creators exercise meaningful creative control over productions.3 In doing so, the framework serves as both a cultural and industrial policy tool, supporting Canadian creativity, employment, and skills development across the audio-visual sector.4
How Does AI Play a Role in the Framework?
Against this policy backdrop, the Commission addressed whether AI can satisfy the creative requirements used to allocate certification points. It concluded that key creative positions must be staffed by humans and not by AI.5
The Commission emphasized that maintaining human Canadian control over these roles is necessary to ensure that Canadian creators remain at the heart of the Canadian broadcasting system.6 Where a key creative role is filled by AI, that role will not generate Canadian content points.7 However, the use of AI in one role does not automatically disqualify a production from certification. A production may still qualify as Canadian if it earns sufficient points through other human-performed creative positions.
At the same time, the Commission expressly recognized the usefulness and potential benefits of AI as a creative tool to assist producers and creators.8 The policy does not prohibit the use of AI in Canadian productions. Rather, it draws a line between AI as an assistive technology and AI as a substitute for credited creative labour.
The Commission also acknowledged that the public record did not support the development of a detailed framework governing AI at this stage.9 As a result, it deliberately limited its determination to a high-level principle, leaving room for future refinement as industry practices evolve.
Why Does it Matter?
The Commission's treatment of AI reflects a balancing exercise, rather than a categorical position on the role of emerging technologies in Canadian content creation.
On the one hand, the Commission grounded its approach in the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. Certification is intended to support Canadian creative industries, employment, and the exercise of creative control by Canadians. From this perspective, the Commission's determination that key creative positions must be performed by Canadian humans supports the Commission's stated objective of keeping Canadian creators at the heart of the broadcasting system.
On the other hand, the decision does not reject the use of AI as part of the production process. The Commission expressly acknowledged the usefulness of AI as a creative tool and declined to prohibit its use in Canadian productions. By focusing on the allocation of certification points rather than on banning AI outright, the framework preserves flexibility for evolving production practices and business models. A production may continue to qualify as Canadian even where AI is used, provided that sufficient points are earned through human-performed creative roles, and nothing prevents human creatives from using AI to assist or supplement their work.
This approach raises a number of questions, including how "human creative control" will be assessed in practice. For example, to what extent can a human creative use AI while still retaining "creative control"? Similarly, should a truly Canadian AI system – developed in Canada and trained using Canadian content – be viewed differently than an international AI system?
The Commission's treatment of AI in this decision also raises questions about the CRTC's traditional commitment to technological neutrality. By carving out a distinct approach to AI in the certification context, the Commission is treating one category of technology differently. This is unlike, for example, earlier shifts in production methods such as the transition from hand-drawn to digital animation (which likewise had implications for labour in the creative industries).
Takeaways
Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-299 is an initial marker rather than a settled framework for AI in Canadian program certification. For now, the Commission has made clear that AI may be used as a tool in the production of Canadian programs, but it cannot replace humans in the key creative roles that attract Canadian content certification points. This reflects the Commission's focus on preserving Canadian creative control within the broadcasting system. Further guidance will likely emerge as AI use in the broadcasting system continues to evolve.
Footnotes
1. Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-299 ("CRTC Decision") at para 18.
2. Ibid. at paras 4-5.
3. Ibid. at para 21 .
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid. at para 195; see also Appendix 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-299 s.4
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid. at paras 191-195.
9. Ibid. at paras 191-194.
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