Thales becomes latest global giant to open AI lab in Montreal

French industrial giant Thales SA has become the latest in a slew of foreign multinationals to open an artificial intelligence research lab in Montreal. The company, which employs 1,800 people in Canada, is announcing Tuesday it will open a lab in Montreal early next year in collaboration with the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA), with plans to hire 50 AI scientists by mid-2019. Thales' AI-related research is concentrated in Paris, where it employs 120 AI research scientists and developers. The company currently employs 15 AI professionals at its operations in Toronto and Quebec City. "We want to create new technologies based on AI that we can industrialize in our verticals and sell to the world," said Siegfried Usal, vice-president of strategy, research and technology with Thales' Canadian operation, which generates $500-million in annual revenue from such ventures as building mass transit signalling technology and control systems for business jets.