Trudeau touts Canada's AI credentials at MIT tech gathering

Canadian computer scientists helped pioneer the field of artificial intelligence before it was a buzzword, and now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hoping to capitalize on their intellectual lead. "We've been investing massively in AI," Trudeau told a conference of tech entrepreneurs Friday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before name-dropping several of the Canadian academics he said provided the "modern underpinnings" of the technology during an "AI winter" when most weren't paying it much notice. Trudeau has become a kind of marketer-in-chief for Canada's tech economy ambitions, explaining the basics of machine learning as he promotes a national plan and government investments to "secure Canada's foothold" in AI research and education. He said Friday that Canada is making a "deliberate choice," but not an easy choice, to embrace change at a time when new technology is disrupting workplaces and leading to anxiety and fear about the future. He said leaders also have a responsibility to shape the rules and principles to guide the development of artificial intelligence.