Ottawa's private sector bets its money on AI since governments haven't

Serial entrepreneur Eli Fathi has definite opinions about how Ottawa was short-changed along the way when it came to investments for artificial intelligence. But rather than sitting back and waiting, the CEO of MindBridge Ai (Analytics Inc.) -- along with members of the startup community, decided to take matters into his own hands. Established in 2015, MindBridge Ai creates products that reduce financial risk for corporations by leveraging AI to detect anomalous transactions. "When we saw what was happening with Element AI (in Montreal) and the support they received from Quebec, Ontario – including Ottawa – wanted to follow suit. The Ontario government put money into Toronto and Waterloo. It may seem surprising, given the region had a strong tech history. But the fall of the telecom industry in 1999 and 2000 saw some spectacular failures, he says. "A number of fibre optic companies got up to $500 million but not one succeeded.