By: Erin Vollick
9 Oct, 2023
Foutse Khomh, Mila: Making the world’s AI safer
October 9, 2023
Foutse Khomh, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Mila
Canada CIFAR AI Chair Foutse Khomh is advancing science to ensure AI systems will not create harm as they deliver benefits. Khomh’s 2023 IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence paper was the first to analyze the gaps between principles and practice in AI policies around the world, and has led to international collaborations that include Japan, Australia and France.
“The ecosystem at Mila is unique, and CIFAR is one of the strongest supports behind the creation of this space, where we can conduct multidisciplinary research.”
Foutse Khomh, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Mila
Khomh also supported the creation of Québec’s Initiative on Trustworthy AI (Confiance IA Québec), which brings together private and public actors to co-develop methods and tools for sustainable, ethical, safe, and trustworthy AI-based systems. Through Confiance, Khomh is building a tool kit that will support industry in responsible AI adoption. He also regularly provides expert advice on AI regulation for the Quebec and federal government.
Khomh’s team has built AI systems for major companies such as Bombardier. Last year he received the Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l’innovation du Québec (ADRIQ) Innovation Award for developing an AI-based tool, in collaboration with Canadian company GHGSat Inc., to support the analysis of satellite imagery for greenhouse gas emissions monitoring.
Khomh’s team also invented a tool with the potential to significantly impact everything from facial recognition software to resume-sorting AI systems. The tool detects, then corrects during the training and deployment stages, bias-inducing features in AI algorithms such as age, location, gender, ethnicity and more. He hopes to release a prototype as early as next year.
“The ecosystem at Mila is unique, and CIFAR is one of the strongest supports behind the creation of this space, where we can conduct multidisciplinary research,” says Khomh, adding that the Canada CIFAR AI Chair appointment has “helped move research out from our narrow lab space into the mainstream.”