Visa Issues Cast Shadow on Canada's Moment in the AI Spotlight

A number of researchers due to attend a prestigious conference on artificial intelligence in Canada next week have been unable to obtain visas in time, leading some executives to question the government's stated goal of becoming a world-leading destination for academics and companies developing the technology. It's unclear how many people have been affected by visa issues, but at least a dozen researchers circulated their stories on social media about having visas denied or applications held up. Timnit Gebru, a Google AI researcher and a founder of the group Black in AI that's holding a workshop at the event, said on Twitter that almost half of the 60-some academics it had asked to attend the workshop had visa applications turned down. "It's Africans living everywhere that are getting denied," she said. Several prominent AI researchers complained of the situation on Twitter in the hopes of getting the Canadian government to take action.