Google and Silicon Valley

Montreal University of Toronto: Now Canada risks losing its AI edge to Silicon Valley, according to Hamilton Spectator. Several leading Canadian researchers and professors have defected to U.S. tech companies such as Google. Pioneering technologies developed in Canadian labs can be found in Facebook facial recognition algorithms, Google Photos app, smartphone voice recognition and even Japanese robots. Top U.S. universities are scooping up AI experts, too. A startup called Maluuba, which makes technology that helps computers talk, is opening a research office in Montreal; the University of Toronto has opened a startup accelerator and this fall launched a program dedicated to AI research. They're in hot demand because the emerging technology will underpin the next wave of innovation — from self-driving cars and personal assistants to smarter prosthetic limbs and industrial robots. "We are losing our top talent, the talent at every level," says Ajay Agrawal, a professor at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. "While we had that advantage, it is slipping through our fingers." Already members of the Canadian AI community are trying to protect what they helped build. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.