Latest news with #AMII
Coin Geek
7 hours ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
Google invests $13 million to upskill Canadian workers
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Google Canada (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has unveiled an ambitious plan to deepen the talent pool for emerging technologies in Canada, investing $13 million in various initiatives. According to a report, the Canadian arm of the Big Tech company will deploy the funds to support organizations spearheading the upskilling of Canadians. Dubbed the AI Opportunity Fund, Google Canada says it will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) skills acquisition projects nationwide. While Canadian enterprises are embracing AI integration into their existing processes, the AI talent pool does not match the pace of adoption. Google is turning to mass upskilling with emerging technologies to provide a steady stream of talent and prevent redundancy for the current workforce. 'Canada is uniquely positioned to capture the immense AI opportunity by putting this technology to work,' said Sabrina Geremia, Country Managing Director for Google Canada. 'The AI Opportunity Fund will help upskill Canadians nationwide, strengthen our workforce, and prepare Canadians for an AI-powered economy.' Google's $13 million fund will support the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII) and will directly impact post-secondary school students with the prerequisite foundational AI skills. Furthermore, a chunk of the fund will be deployed toward training indigenous students via the First Nations Technology Council. Google Canada will provide AI skills training to individuals from communities with high unemployment rates through an endowment in Skills For Change. The Toronto Public Library will receive funding from Google Canada to democratize access to AI training for residents in the megacity. Google's plan is intended to support a raft of initiatives from the Canadian government to ramp up AI adoption. The City of Manitoba has recently invested $2 million to train small and medium-sized businesses on AI adoption to lower barriers to adoption. Currently, the generative AI is forecast to add $230 billion to the Canadian economy before the end of the decade, saving thousands of man-hours annually. AI in workplaces threatens job security Several reports have highlighted the risks of increasing AI adoption in the workplace. As companies leverage emerging technologies to improve productivity and efficiency, entry-level roles are in danger of being replaced by AI. Furthermore, using AI-based recruiters in the hiring process brings fear of discrimination to job seekers. One study revealed that the training data employed by one AI recruiter failed to cater to a wide demographic, making it unsuitable for global application. Australian researchers unveil AI capability for understanding human emotions Meanwhile, researchers at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia have made significant strides in developing an AI system capable of understanding human emotions. The researchers have reached a new milestone in developing an advanced AI-based chatbot with heightened emotional awareness. The latest development brings AI one step closer to improving 'human-machine interactions' while expanding the potential use cases. The team achieved the feat by ditching conventional training methods using single facial pictures. ECU researchers trained the AI model on several related facial expressions, providing greater context and allowing the model to judge emotions like humans. 'Just like we don't judge how someone feels from one glance, our method uses multiple expressions to make more informed predictions,' said lead researcher Sharjeel Tahir. The lead researcher notes that the new training system pushes the frontier for AI interactions with humans, allowing them to show greater empathy. Furthermore, a wide dataset within the same group is tipped to improve the model's accuracy from different angles and lighting conditions. The researchers say the new model can be deployed in diverse industries, including education, customer support, mental health, and AI-based therapy sessions. For now, the ECU researchers confirm that the next milestone in the research is to achieve artificial empathy. Going forward, the team will explore solutions around supporting AI models to provide empathetic responses to human queries beyond routine machine-generated answers. However, the team must navigate challenges, including the ambiguity of human facial expressions across individuals and cultures. Furthermore, there is the risk of manipulation from bad actors using emotionally persuasive bots for nefarious reasons. AI research increasing AI research is progressing, matching the speed of global adoption and new use cases. One study has highlighted the use case of AI recruiters in hiring, identifying the upsides and the risks of discrimination to job seekers. Another study is probing the use of AI, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and Big Data in advancing planetary health amid global ecological challenges. Several countries, including the U.K., are investing large sums to support AI research to provide consumer guardrails ahead of mainstream adoption. In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek's coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI. Watch: AI is for 'augmenting' not replacing the workforce title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Edmonton Journal
20-05-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Edmonton AI conference sells out of tickets in its fourth year running
Cam Linke is a leader in Canada's technology and startup community and CEO of Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. His research is focused on AI adapting behaviours to improve their own self-learning. Linke was at Upper Bound, the AI conference at the Edmonton Convention Centre on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Photo by Shaughn Butts / Postmedia For the first time since its inception, Upper Bound AI Conference was sold out with more than 6,000 attendees flocking to the Edmonton Convention Centre for opening on Tuesday to learn more about the colossal industry that keeps growing, including a new grant from Google Canada. 'It's definitely bigger than we thought it was going to be four years ago,' said Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII) CEO Cam Linke. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors When AMII first started its annual AI conference, it was initially just simply called 'AI Week,' recalled Linke, and the whole conference was held at the AMII office, which was able to host the smaller crowd from the early days. Several years later, and now known across Canada as Upper Bound, the conference is well-respected by researchers, investors and businesses alike, with an expanding crowd reflective of the growth in the industry. Part of the surge in the industry was an announcement by Google Canada that a $5 million grant will be given to AMII to help foster greater integration of AI education into post-secondary curricula across the country. The key to the announcement for Linke was to ensure AI literacy across different disciplines. 'Regardless of the degree or diploma, you're coming out with a solid understanding and literacy in AI, so you can start to leverage that in your job going forward,' said Linke. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We need as many informed voices in the discussion as possible as we're deciding as a country on what the impact of AI is going to be, and how we're going to lead in that. And so for us to be able to help, increasing literacy across the country is something we're really proud to be a part of.' Last year, when Postmedia attended Upper Bound, a common theme was discussions about safety in AI. This year the Google grant announcement falls in line with what Linke said is the prominent theme of this year's convention — adoption in the workforce. Previously, discussions surrounding AI in the workplace centred around trying to convince the decision-makers that using AI is valuable, but now Linke says the conversation has already changed. Now, boards and bosses already expect AI to be part of the plan forward. Upper Bound, an AI conference at the Edmonton Convention Centre hosted by AMII, lands for the third year in a row with more than 6,000 attendees on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. The main hall can accommodate up to six speakers at the same time because attendees pick a presenter to watch and tune their headphone by colour to match the stage. Shaughn Butts/Postmedia Photo by Shaughn Butts / 10108058A Of course, another big topic of this year's conference is getting the chance to hear Richard Sutton, a University of Alberta professor and chief scientific adviser with AMII, speak after being awarded as the co-recipient of the 2024 Association for Computing Machinery A.M. Turing Award, which is often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize in computing.' The award is the highest distinction in the world of computer science, which is sure to spur a crowd on Thursday, when Sutton is set to speak. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. While Upper Bound provides opportunities for attendees to learn, create, and experience various elements of AI, Linke is most heartened by the conference's growing role as a space for vital collisions between members of different sectors that might typically be siloed. Across the country, Linke called for better adoption of AI, which he said Canada has been slow to do compared to other countries. 'The impact that AI can have on companies' operations, on their bottom line, is really big on productivity. We know there's a productivity challenge in Canada,' Linke said. Overall, he said that in order to get the most out of AI as a tool, more adoption is needed while also investing in research to keep driving the industry forward in new ways. He hopes AMII and Upper Bound will continue to assist. 'We'll be here again next year, hopefully creating more collisions between those researchers, between that talent, between the companies trying to adopt (AI) or learning more about it. And we just think, the more that we can create that gravity here, we're going to build something really special,' Linke said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. zdelaney@ Read More Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun. Cult of Hockey Sports Politics Columnists Cult of Hockey
