Advertisement

Massive new centre for AI research opens in Montreal

Click to play video: 'New artificial Intelligence institute inaugurated in Montreal'
New artificial Intelligence institute inaugurated in Montreal
WATCH: McGill University and Université de Montréal inaugurated a new artificial intelligence hub on Monday. As Global's Billy Shields, explains, it is being touted as a major step forward in AI, one that cements Montreal's position in the world of computer science – Jan 28, 2019

Researchers inaugurated Montreal’s Mila centre Monday morning, one of three such centres for the study of artificial intelligence in Canada.

Mila lies within a 90,000 square-foot building on St-Urbain Street in the Mile-Ex district.

READ MORE: Montreal’s booming artificial intelligence sector gains three more companies

It employs more than 35 professors from McGill University and l’Université de Montréal and more than 300 researchers.

“The rest of the world is now investing in this, it’s transforming society,” said Yoshua Bengio, Mila’s founder. “It’s becoming the tool for the next industrial revolution.”

Story continues below advertisement

Researchers are tackling issues such as how machines recognize objects in the real world and interpret what they see.

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

READ MORE: The driverless revolution: Canadian companies bracing for hackers with ‘nefarious’ intent

It’s a common problem facing the makers of driverless cars, but it takes on many dimensions.

“If you just show a machine one tiger, it won’t recognize other tigers, and it won’t know what’s not a tiger,” said Brady Neal, a master’s student at l’Université de Montréal.

Neal hopes his research will aid machines to be more discerning in the future.

Story continues below advertisement

Mila also includes 10 student startups and 13 corporate labs involving companies like Facebook, IBM and Samsung.

WATCH: Quebec Premier François Legault on Montreal’s booming AI sector

Click to play video: 'Quebec Premier François Legault on Montreal’s booming AI sector'
Quebec Premier François Legault on Montreal’s booming AI sector

Sponsored content

AdChoices