Few figures have loomed larger in recent public dialogue over artificial intelligence than Geoffrey Hinton, the groundbreaking AI researcher who famously left Google Brain in May, saying he wanted to be free to speak about the risks of artificial intelligence.
But some might be surprised to learn that Hinton does his work far away from the tech sector’s geographic epicenter in Silicon Valley. For 35 years, Hinton has been a formative player in building up AI capacity in Toronto. Now, the largest Canadian city is emerging as a potential AI hub, as commercial opportunities rapidly expand.
The city’s appeal to entrepreneurs and investors has shifted from a decade ago, when Toronto exported of much of its best talent. Since then, Canada became the world’s first country to fashion a strategy on artificial intelligence in 2017. And the country’s open-door immigration policy, which targets skills like AI, has drawn a pool of talent to the city.
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