It's time to capitalize on Toronto's early lead in artificial intelligence: U of T experts

Thanks in part to research at the University of Toronto, Canada has emerged as an early leader in the artificial intelligence revolution – but truly reaping its rewards will require political vision, an ongoing commitment to diversity and an appetite for winning that, outside of hockey, is rather un-Canadian. That was one of the themes that emerged from this week's Elevate Toronto festival, a three-day event that was designed to showcase the city and surrounding region's growing clout in technology and innovation. Raquel Urtasun, a U of T associate professor of computer science and a star in the AI field, used her time on the main stage at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts to explain why she decided to make Toronto home – and, more importantly, why she resisted the temptation to relocate when Silicon Valley came calling. "Toronto was and is at the forefront of AI," said Urtasun, who is now the head of ride-sharing giant Uber's new self-driving car lab in Toronto. "The machine learning group, for example, at the University of Toronto is one of the best groups in the world."