Technological developments as rapid and unpredictable as artificial intelligence inevitably raise questions of trust. As AI drives rapid transformation across all aspects of business and society, many executives appear uncertain about its implications, viewing it with a mixture of fear and anxiety about what AI will could help us do – and what it could do to us.
But where some leaders feel worry, others feel optimism. With the right safeguards in place, AI can be a powerful tool to support human efforts on pressing issues as varied as agriculture, urban planning, combating human trafficking, and eliminating prejudices in communication.
Each of these cases of using AI to advance human interest comes from Mila–Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence in Montreal, an innovative research laboratory that views AI as a means to generate social benefits, build prosperity and serve humans as a species: a philosophy of ethical AI.
“In its simplest form, ethical AI is a series of choices: agreed upon fundamental principles that lead to building systems we can trust,” explains Valérie Pisano, CEO of Mila. “It is a system for integrating ethical principles into technological design. These choices can be very contextual and local, but ethical AI comes down to human rights.
Trust issues in AI are rooted in three risks, according to Pisano: misuse, with bad actors deploying well-designed AI; malfunction, including loss of control and unintended consequences; and unexpected systemic shocks linked to economic and social disruptions. “People need to think about ethics and security,” Pisano says, “and the huge role that governments can play.”
Ethical AI in Canada
Canada’s typically progressive and inclusive values, as well as its commitment to sustainability and socio-cultural diversity, mean that Mila develops guidance and safeguards for ethical AI in close collaboration with the Government of Canada.
Since its launch in 2017, the government Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy has made the country an early adopter and practitioner, implementing AI across its economy and society by connecting its world-class talent pool and research capacity with advanced AI programs. AI.
Along with two other national artificial intelligence institutes, the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) in Edmonton and Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Toronto — Mila is now driving this adoption of AI, translating her research into humanistic applications and projects such as:
• Biasa natural language processing tool to identify conscious or unconscious gender bias in written text;
• Data-driven insights for sustainable agriculturean AI tool that uses satellite imagery to enable regenerative agriculture that sequesters carbon and reduces soil erosion and water pollution;
• AI reality in first languages (FLAIR)an initiative supporting the revitalization of indigenous languages through the use of AI; And
• Infrareddata-driven processes for reporting signs of human trafficking, developed with lawyers, criminologists and survivors.
Mila Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Yoshua Bengio is a long-time pioneer of deep learning and ethical AI. He is also a professor at the University of Montreal and recipient of the prestigious AM Turing Prize, among other distinctions. In 2024, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Bengio as United Nations Scientific Advisory Boardand Bengio presided over the International scientific report on the security of advanced AI. Time magazine named him one of its 100 most influential people of 2024.
Montreal was in a unique position for Bengio to establish Mila and the principles of ethical AI, given the city’s confluence of multicultural experience; its abundance of research institutes, its ingenuity and talent; and its powerful government support.
“This city is an environment rich in curiosity, discovery and innovative research programs, with an incredible talent pool coming from diverse universities,” says Pisano.
“Historically, Montreal represents the coming together of people,” she says. “Multiculturalism came about very naturally, and it continues to be one of the things that is so distinctive and attractive about Canadian AI: the fact that Canada brings this diverse set of perspectives that allows these connections to happen .
Equally essential to Mila’s visionary approach to technology is its workforce of 150 full-time employees and 1,500 researchers, who bring a wealth of widely varying perspectives and experiences as they collaborate with more than 140 companies private in Canada and elsewhere.
Conference in Canada
Montreal and other digital hotspots in Canada have become poles of attraction for leaders of visionary organizations who meet at business events where they can build relationships of collaboration and innovation in areas as diverse as manufacturing, life sciences, finance and insurance, agribusiness and natural resources.
Technology and AI, driving transformation in all these sectors and more, are at the center of annual events such as While, AI Americas Global SummitTHE In Cyber ForumAnd C2 Montrealwhich all take place in Montreal, as well as Elevation Festival in Toronto and NeurolPS and the Web Summit in Vancouver. Pisano’s own career, as a consultant at McKinsey and talent director at Cirque du Soleil before joining Mila, tells a classic story only in Montreal: a path to opportunities she couldn’t have found elsewhere.
“Canada and Montreal play a unique role as a global hub for scientific advancements,” says Pisano. “Montréal is a small, big city, a tightly knit ecosystem with a creative entrepreneurial spirit and deeply human-centered values that extend to all regions of the world. »
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