CIFAR, a global research organization, named five researchers from Mila, the Institut québécois d’intelligence artificielle, as AI Chairholders in December. They will receive long-term funding to support their work in software engineering, robotics, machine learning, natural language processing, causality or AI-generated music, and enable them to train future AI leaders.

Attracting and retaining the best AI researchers

Canada is at the forefront of the current revolution in artificial intelligence and machine learning. With renowned educational institutions, world-class researchers and leading-edge technology companies, the country’s AI ecosystems are at the forefront of global developments in the field.

To maintain this leadership, in 2017 the Government of Canada tasked CIFAR with developing and leading the $125-million Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The agency is working closely with the three national AI institutes: the Mila in Montreal, the Vector Institute in Toronto, and Amil in Edmonton, as well as with Canadian universities, hospitals and various organizations.

The CIFAR AI Canada Chairs program is a key foundation of this AI strategy. The four Mila members affiliated with the Université de Montréal and the fifth researcher affiliated with Polytechnique Montréal will join 109 other AI leaders holding CIFAR Canada Chairs. They too will be able to advance research in a range of fundamental and applied AI topics, from drug discovery and machine learning for health, autonomous vehicles, materials discovery, human-IA interaction, natural language prediction and more.

Elissa Strome, Executive Director of CIFAR’s Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, states:

“The Canada-CIFAR AI Chairholders are among the most highly regarded machine learning researchers in the world. The chairs program provides a collaborative network for the chairholders to not only push the technical boundaries of their field, but also to examine the role of artificial intelligence in solving global societal problems such as climate change, health, equity, diversity and inclusion.”

Meet the 5 new Canada-Cifar AI Chairholders.

● Glen Berseth (Mila, Université de Montréal). As part of his research in robotics and machine learning, Glen Berseth was part of a Berkeley robotics team that leveraged reinforcement learning to teach robots to walk, assemble furniture, and clean rooms.

● Anna Huang (Mila, University of Montreal, Google). A composer turned artificial intelligence researcher, Anna Huang takes a human-centered approach to artificial intelligence and creativity with the goal of expanding the creative reach of both novice and seasoned artists. She was an organizer and judge for the AI Song Contest, and designed the Music Transformer and the Coconet machine learning model, the basis for Google’s first AI Doodle (the “Bach Doodle”).

● Bang Liu (Mila, University of Montreal). In addition to conducting research on natural language processing, data mining, multimodal and multitasking learning, Bang Liu is exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence with various applications, including social media, health and animation.

● Dhanya Sridhar (Mila, University of Montreal). Previously at Columbia University, Dhanya Sridhar will continue her work in the areas of machine learning, causality, and computational social science. Among her recent work, she has studied the effects of texting among friends on voter turnout in the United States.

● Foutse Khomh (Mila, Polytechnique Montreal). As head of the SWAT lab at Polytechnique Montreal, Foutse Khomh conducts research on software maintenance and evolution, machine learning systems engineering, cloud engineering, and the reliability of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Translated from Découvrez les profils des cinq membres du Mila nommés titulaires d’une chaire en IA CANADA-CIFAR