The self-proclaimed “King of Bay Street,” Wes Hall, and philanthropist Patsy Anderson are supporting the Hospital for Sick Children’s (SickKids) AI program.
The news: SickKids announced on Friday that Hall and Anderson joined forces to make a $3-million donation to the SickKids Artificial Intelligence (SKAI) program, which focuses on deploying “responsible AI” across clinical care, research, education, and operations, according to the hospital’s foundation.
The donation also establishes the SickKids Artificial Intelligence Innovator in Child Health award, with its inaugural recognition going to Dr. Devin Singh, the co-lead of SickKids’ SKAI Service.
From the source: In a statement, Hall said the donation “backs a visionary team helping to ensure Canadian innovation shapes the future of health care.”
“SickKids has world-class AI researchers and clinicians positioned to transform health care,” the Dragons’ Den star added. “We should be doing everything in our power to foster and keep their breakthrough undertakings here in Canada.”
The context: SickKids launched SKAI in March 2025 as a flagship initiative of the SickKids 2030 strategy. SKAI’s three major components include an in-house service to develop and support AI systems, a research arm with scientists using AI for medical discovery, and an AI literacy and knowledge-sharing component. Before Hall and Anderson’s donation, SKAI had received investments of $1 million or more from approximately a dozen backers.
In his own statement, Singh said the donation provides the SKAI team with a runway to develop and scale machine learning algorithms safely, from research validation to everyday clinical operations.
Final thought: This isn’t the only recent tech news tied to SickKids. On Tuesday, the pediatric hospital announced a five-year partnership with Microsoft Canada. The agreement will expand the use of Microsoft Azure as SickKids’ primary cloud platform, and include Azure credits so the hospital can, among other things, “build the AI capabilities needed to support the future of care.”
Feature image courtesy Wes Hall via Facebook.