Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent figure in artificial intelligence (A.I.) research, marked a significant turning point in his career by relocating from the United States to Canada in 1987. Discontent with the political climate in the U.S. and motivated by Canada’s strong social system and research opportunities, Hinton became a fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). His move to Toronto coincided with the creation of an A.I. ecosystem that aimed to foster innovation and support groundbreaking research.
Canada’s commitment to A.I. began to assert itself with the implementation of a national A.I. strategy in 2017, making it the first country to adopt such a comprehensive approach. The strategy facilitated collaboration among three major hubs located in Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton, predominantly driven by the nation’s top A.I. researchers, including Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Rich Sutton. "It’s this historic Canadian challenge of being often the inventors and pioneers of new technology, but not necessarily seeing the commercial success here," stated Cam Linke, head of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), reflecting on the prevalent issue of talent migration to the U.S.
Despite the early promise and noteworthy contributions Canada made to A.I. technology, a considerable amount of its innovation and skilled workforce has historically been exported south of the border. The recent establishment of supportive infrastructure for A.I. research and a more favourable commercial environment have begun to address this issue, as illustrated by the successful $500 million fundraising round for the generative A.I. startup Cohere.
The foundations for Canada's A.I. leadership were laid long before the rise of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Researchers flocked to Canada due to its unique combination of funding and a commitment to long-term research. Speaking on the allure, Hinton remarked, "There were three researchers who were very happy to live in Canada." This effort culminated in significant breakthroughs around the early 2010s, particularly with neural networks, which dramatically improved capabilities in areas such as speech recognition.
The early successes of Hinton and his colleagues paved the way for what was later termed deep learning, igniting excitement in the A.I. field. However, when these advancements began to show commercial viability, many Canadian researchers found themselves lured to U.S. tech giants such as Google and Apple, lured by lucrative offers. “We all basically went to the U.S.,” recounted Ruslan Salakhutdinov, who experienced this migration first-hand.
Recognising the urgency of retaining its talent and innovative potential, the Canadian government introduced the Pan-Canadian A.I. Strategy, investing over 2 billion Canadian dollars into research and proposing to invest an additional 2.4 billion Canadian dollars to further bolster the private sector's capacity for A.I. development. However, this investment still falls significantly short compared to the U.S. tech companies that are forecast to spend over $200 billion on A.I. projects in 2024 alone.
In recent years, Canada’s A.I. landscape has begun to shift, showing glimmers of promise as new startups emerge. Artificial Agency, a newly founded venture aimed at leveraging generative A.I. in gaming, recently raised $16 million, signifying a potential turn in attitudes towards ambitious A.I. projects. The financing success was noted by co-founder Brian Tanner, who stated that they received positive feedback from the venture capital community, highlighting a shift away from traditionally conservative approaches.
Moreover, the engagement of large international firms within Canada has led to a burgeoning A.I. sector. In 2022, Canadian A.I.-focused startups attracted $8.6 billion in venture capital, ranking only behind the U.S. and U.K. among G7 nations for per-capita investment in the sector. This momentum is bolstered by investment firms like Radical Ventures, which has raised significant capital to support local A.I. enterprises.
A notable positive development in the Canadian A.I. ecosystem has been the feasibility for graduates to remain in Canada and contribute to local firms. According to Linke, "You’re seeing these Canadian companies, that historically would have seen them leave the country, instead really decide to build and grow in Canada." The rise of startups like Artificial Agency represents a change in the traditional trajectory for graduates, fostering a more sustained local innovation culture in the field of artificial intelligence.
As Canada continues to evolve its A.I. landscape, the nation's historical challenges regarding brain drain, tempered ambition, and resource allocation may face a counterbalance with the establishment of a robust ecosystem that merges academia and industry, ultimately changing the course of its A.I. future.
Source: Noah Wire Services