Canada must focus its AI vision if it wants to lead the world

Jonathan Schaeffer is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and dean of the faculty of science, University of Alberta. In McKinsey & Co.'s report Disruptive Technologies, technologies containing artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to create tens of trillions of dollars in economic impact by the year 2025. Perhaps, but it is hard to imagine any industry that won't be affected by software applications with "smart" capabilities. For several decades, Canada has been a global powerhouse in AI research. The Universities of Alberta, Toronto and Montreal have world-class AI research centres, and several other universities have strong programs.