Canada can be an AI leader. I left Silicon Valley to prove it

Steve Irvine is the founder and CEO of Toronto-based Integrate.AI I recently made the decision to leave my executive role at Facebook Inc. in Silicon Valley to start a company, Integrate.AI, focused on applied artificial intelligence. Normally, this news would not raise an eyebrow in the valley. In fact, people in positions like mine often leave the comfortable confines of large tech companies to build their own startups in hot new areas, such as AI. However, there was a notable difference in my case – I chose to start my company in Toronto. A lot of people immediately assumed I had made the move strictly for personal reasons, as my wife and I are both Canadian.