Microsoft announces expansion of Montreal research lab, new director

Microsoft plans to significantly expand its Montreal research lab and has hired a renowned artificial intelligence expert, Geoffrey Gordon, to be the lab's new research director. The company said Wednesday that it hopes to double the size of Microsoft Research Montreal within the next two years, to as many as 75 technical experts. The expansion comes as Montreal is becoming a worldwide hub for groundbreaking work in the fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are core to AI advances. "Montreal is really one of the most exciting places in AI right now," said Jennifer Chayes, a technical fellow and managing director of Microsoft Research New England, New York City and Montreal. In a meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed Microsoft's ongoing investment in Canada and the expansion of the Montreal lab, including Gordon's hiring.