CIFAR announces advisory committee overseeing national AI strategy

canada

CIFAR has announced its International Scientific Advisory Committee that will oversee the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

The Canadian AI strategy was first announced in the government’s budget last year, when the government confirmed that it was committing $125 million towards the strategy, which CIFAR is responsible for implementing.

As part of the AI strategy, CIFAR will appoint approximately 50 Canada CIFAR Chairs in artificial intelligence at three AI institutes: Amii in Edmonton, the Vector Institute in Toronto, and MILA in Montreal. At least half of the chairholders will be recruited from outside Canada.

The International Scientific Advisory Committee will evaluate nominations from each of the AI institutes and recommend Chair appointments to CIFAR’s board of directors.

“I’m excited we were able to attract a group of this exceptionally high calibre for the committee,” says Dr. Elissa Strome, executive director of CIFAR’s Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. “It’s a testament to Canada’s position as a global leader in AI that such excellent people are willing to come together and lend us their expertise.”

The advisory committee includes:

  • Prof. Shirley Tilghman OC, FRS
    Chair, President Emerita, Princeton University;
    United States
  • Dr. Victoria Krakovna
    Research Scientist, DeepMind;
    Co-Founder, Future of Life Institute,
    United Kingdom
  • Prof. Yann LeCun
    co-director, CIFAR Program in Learning in Machines & Brains;
    Chief AI Scientist, Facebook
    Professor, New York University,
    United States
  • Prof. Fei-Fei Li
    Director, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab;
    Associate Professor, Stanford University;
    Chief Scientist of AI/ML, Google Cloud,
    United States
  • Prof. Antoine Petit
    Member, CIFAR Research Council;
    President, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS),
    France
  • Prof. Sebastian Seung
    Advisor, CIFAR Program in Learning in Machines & Brains;
    Evnin Professor in Neuroscience, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton Neuroscience Institute,
    United States
  • Prof. Max Welling
    CIFAR Fellow, Program in Learning in Machines & Brains;
    Research Chair in Machine Learning
    University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Photo via Unsplash

    Jessica Galang

    Jessica Galang

    Freelance tech writer. Former BetaKit News Editor.

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