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Canada CIFAR AI Chairs

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TOP TALENT

Canada is recruiting and retaining top AI research talent.

The Canada CIFAR AI Chairs program is the cornerstone of the CIFAR Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. 

Its goal is to recruit the world’s leading AI researchers to Canada, while retaining our existing top talent. The program provides long-term, dedicated research funding to support their research programs and help them train the next generation of AI leaders. 

Canada CIFAR AI Chairs advance research in a range of fundamental and applied AI topics from drug discovery and machine learning for health, autonomous vehicles, materials discovery, human-AI interaction, natural language processing, and more. They are based at Canada's three AI Institutes: Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal, and Vector Institute in Toronto.

Learn about how to join the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy research ecosystem at Canada's three National AI Institutes:

  • Amii
  • Mila
  • The Vector Institute

 

CIFAR Statement on Data Collection for Inclusive Excellence in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy

Show Transcript
I'm Alanna fish I'm an assistant
professor at the University of Alberta
and I'm also a Canada Safari i J
my research is trying to find
connections between the way computers
understand the world and the way we
understand the world so when we build
computer models of for example computer
vision we ask computers to tell us
what's in a picture and it turns out the
way they learn to do that actually looks
a lot like the way the human brain does
it so I'm my research is trying to draw
those connections between the way the
brain works and the way that machine
learning models work we understood how
people perceived images we could build
computer models that perceive images in
the same way and that might mean they're
better at that perception it could also
mean things like when they make a
mistake it's a more human mistake and
that sort of thing could be really
important for applications where
computers are interacting with the real
world I think Canada has been so well
positioned for the AI revolution I think
we happen to have a really strong group
of people already here and then with the
funding from Seifer on the Canadian
government were able to grow that team
in a way that has really put us ahead of
other countries I think it's a great
time to be in Canada for AI but the
thing that I think has been most
important to me with my involvement with
see far has been the networking and the
getting to know other people who are
working on AI so that has been has had a
huge impact on my career a measurable
impact on my career already and I'm
quite a new researcher so having those
sorts of opportunities early on is
really important you can never really
tell what what new science is going to
change the world and so finding the
right people smart people and giving
them the money they need to make
progress is really important and it's
what will make science into reality
you

Meet the #RealBrains Behind AI

The Brains Behind AI is a 10-part video series that provides a behind-the-scenes look at some of Canada’s most talented researchers in artificial intelligence, what areas of research they are focusing on over the next five years as Canada CIFAR AI Chairs and CIFAR fellows, and what motivates them to pursue research in a variety of areas that will transform the way we live and work.

Watch now

Canada CIFAR AI Chairs

About Aishwarya Agrawal

Aishwarya Agrawal

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
DeepMind
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Tal Arbel

Tal Arbel

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Program Co-Director
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow

Accelerated Decarbonization
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Jimmy Ba

Jimmy Ba

Canada CIFAR AI Chair (on leave)

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Pierre-Luc Bacon

Pierre-Luc Bacon

Facebook CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Dzmitry Bahdanau

Dzmitry Bahdanau

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
ServiceNow Element AI
Canada
About Marc G. Bellemare

Marc G. Bellemare

Associate Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Google Brain
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Shai Ben-David

Shai Ben-David

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Yoshua Bengio

Yoshua Bengio

Program Co-Director
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
IVADO
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Glen Berseth

Glen Berseth

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Michael Bowling

Michael Bowling

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
DeepMind
University of Alberta
Canada
About Michael Brudno

Michael Brudno

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University Health Network (UHN)
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Neil Burch

Neil Burch

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Danilo Bzdok

Danilo Bzdok

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Juan Felipe Carrasquilla Álvarez

Juan Felipe Carrasquilla Álvarez

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Sarath Chandar

Sarath Chandar

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Solution Network Member

Integrated AI for Health Imaging
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Angel Chang

Angel Chang

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
Simon Fraser University
Canada
About Laurent Charlin

Laurent Charlin

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
HEC Montréal
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Mo Chen

Mo Chen

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
Simon Fraser University
Canada
About Wenhu Chen

Wenhu Chen

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Jackie Cheung

Jackie Cheung

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Jeff Clune

Jeff Clune

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
DeepMind
University of British Columbia
Vector Institute
Canada
About Aaron Courville

Aaron Courville

Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Fernando Diaz

Fernando Diaz

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Google
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Marc-Antoine Dilhac

Marc-Antoine Dilhac

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Christophe Dubach

Christophe Dubach

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Audrey Durand

Audrey Durand

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université Laval
Canada
About David Duvenaud

David Duvenaud

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Invenia
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Murat Erdogdu

Murat Erdogdu

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Amir-massoud Farahmand

Amir-massoud Farahmand

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Golnoosh Farnadi

Golnoosh Farnadi

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Sanja Fidler

Sanja Fidler

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
NVIDIA
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About David Fleet

David Fleet

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Alona Fyshe

Alona Fyshe

Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Christian Gagné

Christian Gagné

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université Laval
Canada
About Animesh Garg

Animesh Garg

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
NVIDIA Research
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Pascal Germain

Pascal Germain

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université Laval
Canada
About Marzyeh Ghassemi

Marzyeh Ghassemi

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Canada CIFAR AI Chair (on leave)

Learning in Machines & Brains
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
About Gauthier Gidel

Gauthier Gidel

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Anna Goldenberg

Anna Goldenberg

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow

Child & Brain Development
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Hospital for Sick Children
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Russell Greiner

Russell Greiner

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Roger Grosse

Roger Grosse

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Metacademy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Yuhong Guo

Yuhong Guo

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
Carleton University
Canada
About Matthew Guzdial

Matthew Guzdial

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Gillian Hadfield

Gillian Hadfield

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Schwartz Reisman Institute
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Xi He

Xi He

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Nidhi Hegde

Nidhi Hegde

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang

Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Google Brain
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Jacob L. Jaremko

Jacob L. Jaremko

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Bei Jiang

Bei Jiang

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Samira Ebrahimi Kahou

Samira Ebrahimi Kahou

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Gautam Kamath

Gautam Kamath

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Foutse Khomh

Foutse Khomh

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Polytechnique Montréal
Canada
About Linglong Kong

Linglong Kong

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Rahul G. Krishnan

Rahul G. Krishnan

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Simon Lacoste-Julien

Simon Lacoste-Julien

Associate Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Samsung SAIT AI Lab in Montreal
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Guillaume Lajoie

Guillaume Lajoie

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Hugo Larochelle

Hugo Larochelle

Associate Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Google Brain
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Nicolas Le Roux

Nicolas Le Roux

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Levi H. S. Lelis

Levi H. S. Lelis

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil
University of Alberta
Canada
About Kevin Leyton-Brown

Kevin Leyton-Brown

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of British Columbia
Canada
About Renjie Liao

Renjie Liao

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of British Columbia
Vector Institute
Canada
About Bang Liu

Bang Liu

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Marlos C. Machado

Marlos C. Machado

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Chris J. Maddison

Chris J. Maddison

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Rupam Mahmood

Rupam Mahmood

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Alireza Makhzani

Alireza Makhzani

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Sheila McIlraith

Sheila McIlraith

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Lei Ma

Lei Ma

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Joseph Ross Mitchell

Joseph Ross Mitchell

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Ioannis Mitliagkas

Ioannis Mitliagkas

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Lili Mou

Lili Mou

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Parvin Mousavi

Parvin Mousavi

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Queen's University
Vector Institute
Canada
About Eilif B. Muller

Eilif B. Muller

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Martin Müller

Martin Müller

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
Canada
About Derek Nowrouzezahrai

Derek Nowrouzezahrai

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Timothy O’Donnell

Timothy O’Donnell

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Adam Oberman

Adam Oberman

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Sageev Oore

Sageev Oore

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Dalhousie University
Vector Institute
Canada
About Christopher Pal

Christopher Pal

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Polytechnique Montréal
Canada
About Nicolas Papernot

Nicolas Papernot

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Google Brain
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Courtney Paquette

Courtney Paquette

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Mijung Park

Mijung Park

Canada CIFAR AI Chair (on leave)

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of British Columbia
Canada
About Liam Paull

Liam Paull

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Gennady Pekhimenko

Gennady Pekhimenko

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Patrick M. Pilarski

Patrick M. Pilarski

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
DeepMind
University of Alberta
Canada
About Joelle Pineau

Joelle Pineau

Advisor
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Facebook
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Toniann Pitassi

Toniann Pitassi

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
About Pascal Poupart

Pascal Poupart

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Waterloo
Vector Institute
Canada
About Doina Precup

Doina Precup

Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
DeepMind
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Reihaneh Rabbany

Reihaneh Rabbany

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Guillaume Rabusseau

Guillaume Rabusseau

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Siamak Ravanbakhsh

Siamak Ravanbakhsh

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Siva Reddy

Siva Reddy

Facebook CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Catherine Régis

Catherine Régis

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About Blake Richards

Blake Richards

Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Irina Rish

Irina Rish

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Canada
About David Rolnick

David Rolnick

Canada CIFAR AI Chair
National Program Committee member

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Adriana Romero-Soriano

Adriana Romero-Soriano

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
FAIR (Meta AI)
McGill University
Mila
Canada
About Daniel Roy

Daniel Roy

Canada CIFAR AI Chair

Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
University of Toronto Scarborough
Vector Institute
Canada

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