{"id":4957,"date":"2017-05-25T11:30:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T15:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2017-05-25T11:30:53","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T15:30:53","slug":"montreal-to-become-world-centre-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=4957","title":{"rendered":"Montreal to become world centre of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"copy-snippet fontset1 scale3\">\n<article class=\"art\">\n<header>\n<hgroup>\n<h5 data-bind=\"text: articleSubtitle\"><em>Montreal is positioning itself to become a world centre of artificial intelligence with impressive amounts of cash flowing into academia, public-private partnerships, research labs and startups. Bertrand Marotte reports on some of the big brains behind the suddenly hot trend.<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/hgroup>\n<ul class=\"art-byline\">\n<li class=\"art-date\">Montreal Gazette, <time data-bind=\"text: shortDateString\">20 May 2017<\/time><\/li>\n<li class=\"art-author\" data-bind=\"text: byline\">For more information about the conference, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c2montreal.com\/\">c2montreal.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/header>\n<figure class=\"art-pic\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 542px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"articleImage\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-img.pressreader.com\/pressdisplay\/docserver\/getimage.aspx?regionKey=nxXr7grHZbU7vlmTaJbP1A%3d%3d\" alt=\"\" width=\"542\" height=\"330\" data-bind=\"attr: { src: imageUrl }\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTOS: JOHN MAHONEY Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Gagn\u00e9 is co-founder and chief executive officer of Element AI, an artificial intelligence startup factory launched in Montreal last year. \u201cWe want to be part of that conversation \u2014 shaping what AI is going to look like,\u201d he says.<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption data-bind=\"text: imageByline\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div data-bind=\"foreach: articleBlocks\">\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">It might seem like an ambitious goal, but key players in Montreal\u2019s rapidly growing artificial intelligence sector are intent on transforming the city into a Silicon Valley of AI.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Certainly, the flurry of activity these days indicates that AI in the city is on a roll. Impressive amounts of cash have been flowing into academia, public-private partnerships, research labs and startups active in AI in the Montreal area.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">And hopes are high that a threeday conference starting May 24 \u2014 AI Forum \u2014 will help burnish Montreal\u2019s reputation as one of the world\u2019s emerging AI advanced research centres and top talent pools in the suddenly very hot tech trend.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Topics and issues on the agenda include the evolution of AI in Montreal and the transformative impact AI can have on business, industry and the economy.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">For example, researchers at Microsoft Corp. have successfully developed a computing system able to decipher conversational speech as accurately as humans do. The technology makes the same, or fewer, errors than professional transcribers and could be a huge boon to major users of transcription services like law firms and the courts.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Setting the goal of attaining the critical mass of a Silicon Valley is \u201ca nice point of reference,\u201d said tech entrepreneur Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Gagn\u00e9, co-founder and chief executive officer of Element AI, an artificial intelligence startup factory launched last year.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cIt\u2019s ambitious,\u201d allowed Gagn\u00e9, one of the keynote speakers at the AI Forum, held in partnership with the annual C2 Montr\u00e9al international gabfest.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The idea is to create a \u201cfluid, dynamic ecosystem\u201d in Montreal where AI research, startup, investment and commercialization activities all mesh productively together, said Gagn\u00e9, who founded Element with researcher Nicolas Chapados and Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al deep learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cArtificial intelligence is seen now as a strategic asset to governments and to corporations. The fight for resources is global,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The rise of Montreal \u2014 and rival Toronto \u2014 as AI hubs owes a lot to provincial and federal government funding.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Ottawa promised $213 million last September to fund AI and big data research at four Montreal post-secondary institutions. Quebec has earmarked $100 million over the next five years for the development of an AI \u201csuper-cluster\u201d in the Montreal region.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The provincial government also created a 12-member blue-chip committee to develop a strategic plan to make Quebec an AI hub, co-chaired by Claridge Investments Ltd. CEO Pierre Boivin and Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al rector Guy Breton.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">But private-sector money has also been flowing in, particularly from some of the established tech giants competing in an intense AI race for innovative breakthroughs and the best brains in the business.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Bengio\u2019s Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) got $4.5 million last November from Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google, an aggressive backer of research in machine learning.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">(Machine learning makes computers smarter and able to learn from data-based information rather than simply responding to static instructions. It involves the creation of computer neural networks that mimic human brain activity and can program themselves to solve complex problems rather than having to be programmed.)<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Google has also launched a deep learning \u2014 a subfield of machine learning \u2014 and AI research lab at its existing offices in Montreal.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Microsoft has launched a new venture fund whose first investment \u2014 an undisclosed amount \u2014 is in Element AI.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant also plans to double its AI R&amp;D team in Montreal to about 90 people over the next year, said Microsoft Canada spokeswoman Lisa Gibson.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Montreal-based AI startups are involved in a variety of niche areas, including medical diagnostics like radiology \u2014 machines are now able to detect cancerous tumours better than radiologists \u2014 translation and voice mimicry.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Lyrebird, founded by three U de M<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">PhD students, has developed speech synthesis software that can copy anyone\u2019s voice and make it say anything. Possible applications include using fake famous voices in audio-book readings and creating idiosyncratic voices for automated personal assistants.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Botler AI, founded by Iranianborn engineer Amir Moravej, uses AI to help immigrants navigate the labyrinthine immigration process. The product uses actual cases and government guidelines to help steer users seeking admission to Quebec\u2019s foreign workers and student program.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">U de M and McGill University are th<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">e academic bedrocks on which Montreal\u2019s AI sector has been built. About 150 AI researchers toil at the two institutions, making the city one of the world\u2019s largest basic deep learning centres.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cWe stuck to academia, which helped us build big labs with a lot of graduate students,\u201d said Doina Precup, associate professor in computer sciences at McGill and recipient of a Google research award.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cThe training and the research started much before (AI) was popular, since the early 2000s, when people didn\u2019t really care for this type of research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Government backing over the years and Montreal\u2019s relatively low cost of living compared with places like San Francisco have also been a boon, said Precup.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Montreal\u2019s rich talent pool is a major reason Waterloo, Ont.based language-recognition startup Maluuba decided to open a research lab in the city, said the company\u2019s vice-president of product development, Mohamed Musbah.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible so far. The work being done in this space is putting Montreal on a pedestal around the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Microsoft struck a deal this year to acquire Maluuba, which is working to crack one of the holy grails of deep learning: teaching machines to read like the human brain does. Among the company \u2019s software developments are voice assistants for smartphones.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Maluuba has also partnered with<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">an undisclosed auto manufacturer to develop speech recognition applications for vehicles. Voice recognition applied to cars can include such things as asking for a weather report or making remote requests for the vehicle to unlock itself.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Musbah doesn\u2019t view Toronto \u2014 which holds bragging rights to also being a significant global AI centre \u2014 as a threat. \u201cThere\u2019s a productive competitive relationship between Toronto and Montreal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cSo far, (the rivalry) has been contributing positively to Canada\u201d as well as to efforts to reverse the AI brain drain to the U.S. over the past several years and retain the best AI minds here at home, he said.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Element AI aims to have 100 employees by the end June, which will make it the largest private AI group in Canada, said Gagn\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The organization, a privatesector\/academia hybrid, wants to help companies get access to cutting-edge technology, invest in startups and generally act as a counterweight to the massive heft of titans like Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and China\u2019s Baidu, he said.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Regulatory and ethical concerns will be among the topics to be discussed at this month\u2019s AI Forum.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cWe want to be part of that conversation, shaping what AI is going to look like,\u201d said Gagn\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Two issues he singles out as critical are the potential for loss of privacy and job disruption resulting from AI technology.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Artificial intelligence is seen now as a strategic asset to governments and to corporations. 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Bertrand Marotte reports on some of the big brains behind the suddenly hot trend. Montreal Gazette, 20 May 2017 For more information about the conference, visit c2montreal.com. It might &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=4957\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Montreal to become world centre of AI<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[811],"tags":[381,854,855,51],"class_list":["post-4957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-and-technology","tag-ai","tag-arificial-intelligence","tag-c2montreal","tag-montreal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4958,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions\/4958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}