Punching above our weight in AI (Artificial Intelligence)

How Montreal became a world leader in machine learning research

While Canada continues to rank among the world’s most AI-phobic countries, Montreal has bucked that trend to emerge as a research leader in this epoch-making technology.

4,000 AI providers and adopters from 40 countries attended the ALL IN AI at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès

The recent Munk Global Opinion on AI report revealed that only 15% of Canadians believe “we should speed up AI development,” ranking us dead last among the 21 countries surveyed. However, attitudes shift in La Belle Province, and this is reflected in Montreal’s world-class AI ecosystem.

Quebec is a world leader in AI research, ranking fifth (ahead of Canada and just behind Germany) on the Global AI Index. Thanks to the groundbreaking work being done at the Montreal Institute of Learning Algorithms (Mila), the Université de Montréal and McGill, we rank first in average number of AI academic citations.

Last month, over 4,000 AI providers and adopters from 40 countries attended the ALL IN AI conference at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès. One of the announcements at the gathering was a collaboration between Urgences-Santé and Longueuil-based AI company Airudi. Explains Urgences-Santé’s Thamara Antoine-Germain, “Airudi is programming a new AI system that will help us predict the calls we will receive, to be more effective and preventive rather than reactive as we are now.”

Justin Dellaripa and Thamara Antoine-Germain of Urgences-Sante

Montreal’s paramedical care provider, Urgences-Santé, receives approximately 1,000 calls daily. The new MODUS predictive AI model is trained on ten years of local ambulance service data and incorporates real-time information on resources, weather and road conditions. “By analyzing a vast dataset that would be difficult for a person to process as efficiently, our AI solution will better manage human resources, optimizing staff allocation and emergency response. This translates to more efficient care services, benefiting the entire population,” says Airudi Co-founder and Vice-President of Operations Amanda Arciero.

With dozens of startups focused on AI-driven healthcare, Montreal is also a vibrant hub for research on cancer detection and treatment and brain-computer interfaces.

“With dozens of startups focused on AI-driven healthcare, Montreal is also a vibrant hub for research on cancer detection.”

It does not stop at healthcare: our city also uses computer vision models for pothole detection on streets and bike paths and even to improve the training and on-ice performance of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs were early movers in AI-driven data analytics, assembling a dedicated team for the task, and the reaction from players and coaching staff has been resoundingly positive.

AI is arguably both the most transformative and divisive technology of our times, with public opinion tending to fall into the “e/acc” (accelerate AI research) or the “decel” (decelerate) camps. But this division is not so pronounced and discussions are not so heated in Montreal, where we are more open to and less worried about AI than the rest of Canada. Could it be our vivre et laisser vivre culture showing?

“The Montreal Canadiens were early movers in AI-driven data analytics, assembling a dedicated team for the task, and the reaction from players and coaching staff has been resoundingly positive.”

Mathieu Marcotte of Center of Expertise in Artificial Intelligence (CEIMIA)

“Montreal’s culture of creativity and innovation has created space and opportunities, even for the smaller AI players,” says Laetitia Vu of the Montreal International Center of Expertise in Artificial Intelligence (CEIMIA).

“One of the things that differentiates us from other AI hubs around the world is that Montreal-based AI pioneers such as Yoshua Bengio built this ecosystem on the idea that we will go further if we collaborate together,” says CEIMIA’s Mathieu Marcotte. “So even the big players that brought their business and their research to Montreal had to adapt that reality, that if they were not collaborative with the rest of the ecosystem they would be set aside.

“I think there are a few reasons why international AI talent has been attracted to Montreal: the cost of living is still lower than Toronto and Vancouver, and we have that bit of European cultural background that maybe explains the difference between us and the rest of Canada,” says Marcotte, “but I think it’s mainly because we’ve been fostering our ecosystem for longer than those in the rest of Canada.”

Clearly, AI is embracing Montreal and Montreal is embracing AI.

In next month’s installment of this series, we’ll explore how Canada and other Western countries compare with East Asia and the Global South with regard to AI development and deployment.