Cam Linke joins Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute as CEO

Cam Linke has joined the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) as the organization’s new CEO.

Amii announced Linke’s appointment on Wednesday, though he originally took on the role in November. Linke replaces John Shillington who served as Amii’s first president and CEO from October 2018. Linke has been with Amii since around that same time period, when he worked as interim executive director from May through to October 2018. He has been a board member since 2015.

“Now more than ever, our partners in industry need expertise and resources to build their in-house AI/ML capacity.”

A leading artificial intelligence (AI) organization in Alberta, Amii began in 2002 as the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Machine Learning, a joint effort between the Government of Alberta and the University of Alberta. In 2017, the centre rebranded as Amii and launched as a not-for-profit, becoming part of the federal government’s Pan-Canadian AI.

Linke has long been a part of the Edmonton technology and startup community. He is the co-founder and partner of Flightpath Ventures, an early, angel-stage fund investing in tech companies. He is also the co-founder of Startup Edmonton. Linke’s work as a researchers has him currently studying under Richard Sutton and Adam White. His research focuses on AI adapting behaviours to improve their own self-learning.

“Cam is one of Edmonton’s bright, young minds, and a leader who is passionate about growing a vibrant AI and tech community,” said Sutton, Amii’s chief scientific advisor and one of the ‘godfathers’ of machine learning. “[Linke] brings an unparalleled energy and a keen way of thinking that’s already reshaping how we engage businesses and continue to advance AI research.”

According to Amii, Linke and its teams have worked over the past months to “refine” service offerings that advance leading-edge research in AI and machine learning. This has led to the launch of “a host of advisory and educational services” meant to help companies with machine learning adoption.

Over the coming year, the new CEO is set to focus the organization on “inspiring world-changing machine intelligence, for good and for all, through research, advisement, and education.” In a letter to the Amii community, Linke noted that his goal is to make the organization the leading AI and machine learning research institute in the world by 2025.

“Now more than ever, our partners in industry need expertise and resources to build their in-house AI/ML capacity to drive their economic success forward,” said Linke. “We’re uniquely positioned to support companies across sectors, including energy, healthcare, and agriculture, to gain a competitive advantage by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and creating resilient systems.”

“We are thrilled at the direction Amii is already taking under Cam’s leadership,” said Bruce Johnson, chair of Amii’s board of directors. “It’s no surprise given his track record for growing high-impact organizations and inspiring wholesale community transformation. I can think of no person better positioned to solidify Alberta’s place on the world stage.”