“What is Canada the best at?”
It’s a question that Cameron Schuler has asked many rooms, but this time he was hoping the audience would yell something other than “hockey.”
“Modern AI was born in Canada, so we want to make sure that its future, and all the economic and societal benefits that come with it, is born here as well.”
Schuler is the Chief Commercialization Officer and Vice President of Industry Innovation at the Vector Institute. In March, Schuler was on stage at Vector’s annual Remarkable Conference. Organized by Vector, an independent, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to advancing AI research in Canada, the two-day event convened top minds from public policy, private institutions, academia, and the corporate environment to highlight the national imperatives of AI adoption and commercialization.
An underlying theme of the event was that accelerating the use of AI in Canada is no longer just about increasing the country’s productivity and competitiveness. It is also a means through which the country can build its strategic position in the face of a US trade war and a new global order.
“Based on the resources we have in Canada, we should be the best in the world at using AI,” Schuler said. “Just as we’re the best at thinking about it.”
Bridging research and industry
There is no doubt that Canada has led the world in the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Remarkable Conference took place the same week that Richard Sutton of the University of Alberta was named the recipient of the 2024 Turing Award for his work on reinforcement learning.
Months earlier, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI” who founded the Vector Institute in 2017 along with Brendan Frey and Raquel Urtasun, among others.
The Vector Institute is also supporting researchers using AI to advance cancer detection, unlock secure data sharing, and deliver high-performance models that run lean. This kind of research is shaping a future where AI is not only powerful, but more practical, faster to deploy, safer to use, and easier to trust.
Despite Canada’s role in creating AI, many at Remarkable warned that Canada is squandering a major competitive advantage as it lags behind in widespread adoption and commercialization.
Azin Asgarian, the AI Technical Lead at Georgian, also spends her time advising leaders how to approach technology.
As part of the panel “Bridging the Gap: How AI Research Accelerates Proof of Concepts to Production,” Asgarian said that many of her portfolio companies face a “buy or build” challenge, and that the amount of hype and products in the market requires companies to be strategic about their path to adoption.
“Everything is moving so fast, that companies need clear direction,” she said of the applications of AI. “So I think it’s very important to tie the ideas to very clear business outcomes.”
This is where the Vector Institute excels. As part of its mandate, the institute helps partners explore AI research and its application in specific business use cases.
“Vector’s ability to accelerate and to share community practice can be so helpful,” said Vector board member Shauneen Bruder. “It does take, I think, a level of leadership and insight nationally in order to really capture the opportunity.”
Canada taking the lead
“This is Canada’s moment to lead,” said Kristin Milchanowski, Chief AI and Data Officer at BMO. “We have every tool, every resource readily available to shape the future of AI – and we can win this moment. With the right focus, we can turn Canada’s AI leadership into real-world impact, accelerating innovation, driving progress for a thriving economy, and cementing Canada’s position on the global stage.”
At BMO, Milchanowski thinks about AI and the use of data from the perspective of both “offence and defence.”
Her team deploys technology to provide insights and services to banking customers, but also to strengthen its security and approach to risk management.
For Canada, accelerating the use of AI could not only increase the country’s productivity and competitiveness, but also bolster its strategic position amid the current market environment.
“It’s not just a tool for efficiency,” Milchanowski said. “We believe it’s a really transformational force when deployed responsibly and thoughtfully.”
Proof of concept
Laura Gilbert is used to making the case for AI to skeptical audiences.
As the former Director of Data Science in 10 Downing Street, the office of the British Prime Minister, Gilbert used technology to advance solutions that the government had lacked capacity to address.
As an example, Gilbert said that up to 22,000 people in the UK are believed to die each year as a result of prescription medication errors, costing the National Health Service approximately $1 billion pounds a year.
“What kind of cancer-saving treatments could you use that on instead?” she asked. “It’s a very complex problem to solve because of the nature of drug interactions, and we don’t have the kind of human resources that can go through and manually solve those problems. Therefore, AI is an answer.”
Now the Head of the AI for Government Program at the Ellison Institute of Technology at Oxford, Gilbert attended Remarkable as part of her ongoing effort to build global networks among those who believe in the application of technology for the public good.
“You know, particularly in Downing Street, I was surprised by how very few voices actually go into any one decision,” she said. “The thing that becomes important is making sure that those voices are really well advised and have access to information they can understand and want to understand.”
Schuler went one step further, telling the Remarkable audience that AI adoption should be seen as central to Canada’s future security and sovereignty.
“Toronto has the most dynamic AI ecosystem in the world and that’s why Vector is here to deliver on its promise,” he said. “Modern AI was born in Canada, so we want to make sure that its future, and all the economic and societal benefits that come with it, is born here as well.”
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Feature image of Azin Asgarian alongside panelists from Cohere, Deloitte, TD Bank, Layer 6, by Nathan C. Lalonde, Vector Institute.