July News: The Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and our new ML Tech Certification

Hey there,

The long days of summer are upon us, and our teams are looking forward to spending time with loved ones and taking some well-earned holidays. Through the summer, our team at Amii is still ramping up efforts to leverage our leadership in AI to drive forward business adoption and grow the talent pool.

With the renewal of the $443 million Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Amii is reaffirming our commitment to accelerating AI commercialization and advancing leading-edge research. As we put the strategy into action, we’re looking forward to adding to our already-stellar team of researchers and doing even more to support companies as they develop their AI competitive advantage and build their internal teams.

Already, we’ve seen how transformational an investment like this can be in establishing Canada as a global player in AI, and this next phase of the strategy demonstrates a commitment to advancing world-changing research and leveraging leading expertise to drive business adoption of AI to the benefit of all.

If you’re seeking opportunities to get involved in the growing excitement around AI in Canada, here are a couple of ways you can jumpstart your career in the field:

• We recently launched applications for our Machine Learning Technician Certification, a 9-week course that takes a blended learning approach to give you business-ready skills in AI and machine learning. Summer pricing is in effect until August 31 – so apply today for the September 20 start date!
• We’re also hiring a number of technical and non-technical roles across the organization. Check out our latest job postings to see if there’s a good fit for you! 

Read below for other exciting updates from Amii and Alberta’s AI community. Meanwhile, if you haven’t had a chance to see it, check out our AI Week wrap-up video to relive the excitement of the inaugural event!

See you soon,

July Highlights

Industry & Community Updates:

• With the support of our AI Week 2022 Talent Bursary Sponsors, we were able to award 515 bursaries, with more than 50% of recipients coming from outside of Alberta.
• The Government of Canada is investing $443 million in the second phase of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, confirming Canada’s place as a destination for research, talent and commercialization.
• The 2022 AI4Good Demo Day showcased 15 exciting prototypes using AI for social good from teams from Edmonton, Toronto and Montréal. 
• Amii Fellow, Canada CIFAR AI Chair and DeepMind Alberta co-lead Patrick Pilarski was recently featured by the Mayor of Edmonton's community leader spotlight, talking about how the city developed such a stellar reputation as an AI hub.
• Amii is proud to be a partner of the Great Prairies Pitch Marathon this summer. It showcases startups from across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba with online and in-person events. Registration closes Aug. 12.

Research Updates:

• In Shi Dong's AI seminar, the PhD candidate at Stanford University detailed a simple RL agent that uses an optimistic version of Q-learning and can operate with some level of competence in any environment.
• Meanwhile, University of Alberta postdoctoral fellow Elham Parhizkar's AI seminar presented a new method for computing indirect trust in multi-agent systems.
• Amii Fellow & Canada CIFAR AI Chair Marlos C. Machado showed off some of the real-world applications of reinforcement learning in the June AI Meetup. He talked about his work using RL to navigate Loon balloons in Earth’s stratosphere.
• Could AI help make legal research faster, more precise and more accessible to the general public? The COLIEE 2022 competition has teams from across the world exploring the possibilities AI offers in the legal system.

Training Updates:

• The ML Exploration Program is open to applications until July 29. This course is geared towards startups that are interested in learning more about machine learning (ML) and how it can directly help their business.
• Applications are now open for our ML Technician Certification Course. Learn how to plan and execute an ML project in this 9-week online course. Apply before September 12.
• Take the first step in your AI journey with the online ML Foundations 1 course. It'll teach you the basics of artificial intelligence, helping you build a foundation of knowledge with the help of real-world examples. Register for the Aug. 4 course now!
• Continue to build off that knowledge in the ML Foundations 2 class, which gives you a more detailed look at technical concepts. Registration is now open for Aug. 11.

Upcoming Events

July 19 (12 - 1pm MDT): AI Meetup

Looking to build a career in AI? Amii's Spencer Murray hosts this month’s AI Meetup, which is all about technical and non-technical career paths in AI. Joined by Product Owners from Amii’s Training and Talent teams, Spencer will guide an in-depth conversation about:

• Findings from the AI Skills Gap whitepaper Amii recently released in collaboration with Microsoft
• Traditional and non-traditional career pathways into AI
• Upskilling and reskilling options for everyone

Learn more

July 27 (12:15 - 1pm MDT): Learn Downtown - AI in Alberta

Join Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute expert Spencer Murray for this engaging and informative talk on Artificial Intelligence in Alberta and how the technology is transforming the local economy!

Learn why Alberta is known as a global centre for AI, and dive into some of the ways AI can help organizations through projecting, producing, preventing, promoting and personalizing.

Register today

Career Opportunities

• Amii is looking for a Programing Coordinator for our Training team. If you're excited about creating exceptional experiences for our clients and program participants, apply by July 22.
• Apply before July 17 to be our Operations & Performance Analyst and help Amii plan, execute and evaluate our operations and product excellence. 
• We're looking to add a Machine Learning Scientist to our Industry team. Get your application in before July 27.
• There's also an opening for a Machine Learning Resident on the Advanced Tech team. Apply by July 15.
• We're seeking a Program Coordinator – Talent to help build the world's strongest AI talent pipeline. The posting is open until July 29.