Montreal seeks to be world leader in responsible artificial intelligence research
MONTREAL — Various computer scientists, researchers, lawyers and other techies have recently been attending biweekly meetings in Montreal to discuss life’s big questions — as they relate to our increasingly intelligent machines.
Should a computer give medical advice? Is it acceptable for the legal system to use algorithms in order to decide whether convicts get paroled? Can an artificial agent that spouts racial slurs be held culpable?
And perhaps most pressing for many people: Are Facebook and other social media applications capable of knowing when a user is depressed or suffering a manic episode — and are these people being targeted with online advertisements in order to exploit them at their most vulnerable?
Google, Microsoft, Facebook and recently even the Royal Bank of Canada have announced millions of dollars in investment in artificial intelligence labs across Montreal, helping to make the city a world leader in machine-learning development.