Building province’s AI community

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2025 (227 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mohammad Ali stuck a green pin to his chest, sending a clear message — open for work.

It was a step he took upon arriving at the Manitoba Association of AI Professionals’ second community event. He didn’t make the cut to showcase his project in front of roughly 180 artificial intelligence enthusiasts. He did, however, get a ticket in.

That in itself was a feat — the downtown event sold out amid what organizers describe as a hunger for AI knowledge.

The Manitoba Association of AI Professionals (MAAIP) has netted roughly 600 memberships within its first year of operation. It has funding announcements on the way and plans for many more gatherings, according to its board chair.

Meanwhile, the provincial government is making an artificial intelligence strategy as AI seeps into corporations and personal use.

“We’re in the very, very early stages of broad adoption,” said Harry Roy McLaughlin, MAAIP’s board chair.

The association’s mission is to build Manitoba’s AI community. One mandate is to keep local “brilliant people” from moving to hubs like Toronto or Silicon Valley for work, McLaughlin explained.

Ali, a third-year data science student, has already gotten interest from Toronto. It hasn’t been the case in Winnipeg, he explained, his green pin bright.

“I basically want to work with AI and make cool projects,” the 22-year-old said Tuesday. “There are not many jobs here… the competition is pretty high.”

McLaughlin anticipates the number of artificial intelligence-related roles will grow in the coming years. The trick is to connect local talent with companies — it’s where the pins come in.

MAAIP intends to produce events at a “regular cadence” — perhaps every month or two — to bolster the tech sector.

The association hosted its first event last fall. It sold out, like MAAIP’s event Tuesday.

“People are starving for it,” said McLaughlin. “There’s so much interest, specifically now, around AI.”

He alluded to new funding for MAAIP but couldn’t share details. Hackathons are among the functions MAAIP plans to hold.

On Tuesday, eight Manitobans displayed their projects to a crowd of industry professionals, government staffers and students. Twenty-five projects were submitted; many good ones were passed, McLaughlin said.

Employees from Canada Life and IGM Financial were among the presenters.

“We need to have a problem for AI to solve, and we are very conscious at Canada Life of what type of problems we solve,” said Parama Ray, the insurance company’s assistant vice-president, AI and data analytics.

She demonstrated the Disability Artificial Intelligence Summary, or DAISY. Canada Life’s product oversees the lifecycle of disability claims and offers solutions to claimants’ obstacles, Ray said.

University students shared their own inventions — a colorectal cancer detector, and a tool to assist IT departments in finding computer bugs.

One start-up, Moonlite Labs, played videos made using its AI generation tool. Another, U-Pro Soccer, displayed its AI-powered training mat and software intended to help kids with soccer skills.

“It was a good opportunity to show… the really cool stuff that people are working on,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve got this fantastic talent in the province that would have often just gone unnoticed.”

Artificial intelligence will increasingly embed into society, a Google Cloud representative shared in a speech. Tom Krywitsky invoked Jevons Paradox: efficient innovations become heavily relied upon, leading to more production and lower prices.

“We put LED (light bulbs) everywhere,” Krywitsky said. “This is what’s happening with these large language models, the generative AI models.

“They’ll be embedded in small ways in your phone, in the software you use.”

People are using artificial intelligence constantly without realizing it, noted John Anderson, a University of Manitoba computer science professor.

“I’ve probably used half a dozen AI systems today already without me directly using any,” he said Wednesday morning.

Credit card companies use AI systems after every transaction, analyzing data and hunting for fraud, Anderson shared. Many companies are incorporating AI to assist with “mundane” tasks, he added.

He considers Manitoba’s AI sector to be growing in “leaps and bounds.”

“I don’t think it’s doing extraordinarily well by Silicon Valley standards, for example, or even Toronto standards, but I think we’re doing a good job in using AI… and moving forward.”

Post-secondary schools host AI labs, including Anderson’s. He researches how to improve robot-to-robot interactions. Manitoba is also home to digital agriculture incubators like EMILI, Anderson highlighted.

“I think that there is a lot of (AI-related) work within the province,” he said, adding he believes people’s intentional use of AI will increase.

Manitoba’s first minister of innovation and new technology addressed event attendees Tuesday. He’s creating an artificial intelligence strategy “to figure out where the opportunities lie and where the guard rails need to be put in.”

“I need to know what you know in order to do that job properly,” Minister Mike Moroz told the crowd.

He wasn’t able to provide details on the strategy Wednesday; a press secretary cited the upcoming Transcona byelection and related blackout rules.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com