Is artificial intelligence the path to economic growth? The Liberals think so Toronto Star

The government's vision of AI-enabled growth is not rooted in the apocalyptic science fiction of Terminator movies where robots destroy humanity (Arnold Schwarzenegger appropriated the Spanish phrase "Hasta la vista, baby" in Terminator 2: Judgement Day before sparking some spectacular explosions). Instead, Bains and others point to two Canadian "pioneers" in AI -- Geoff Hinton at the University of Toronto and Montreal computer scientist Yoshua Bengio. They are recognized world leaders in "deep learning" or "machine learning" -- advanced algorithms that allow powerful new super computers to essentially think like humans. The minister is also buoyed by signs of foreign capital coming to Canada such as Microsoft's recent acquisition of the artificial intelligence start up, Maluuba, based in Waterloo, Ont., and Montreal. In a recent conversation with Bill Gates, Bains said the Microsoft co-founder acknowledged that Canada was playing "a leadership role" in AI. "We want to encourage those kinds of investments to continue, to connect with each other on a national level," said Bains. "If companies are betting on AI, academic institutions are betting on AI, why can't government be a meaningful partner in this area as well?"