Artificial intelligence expert moves to Montreal because it's an AI hub

Irina Rish, now a renowned expert in the field of artificial intelligence, first became drawn to the topic as a teenager in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. At 14, she was fascinated by the notion that machines might have their own thought processes. "I was interested in math in school and I was looking at how you improve problem solving and how you come up with algorithms," Rish said in a phone interview Friday afternoon. "I didn't know the word yet (algorithm) but that's essentially what it was. How do you solve tough problems?"