A McGill research team is tackling one of AI’s fastest-moving challenges: how software developers can steer and safeguard code as AI systems become capable of writing large portions of software on their own.

By Meaghan Thurston
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) program provides long-term, dedicated research funding to support and train the next generation of AI leaders.
Consider a question: “How many students took each calculus class?” A seemingly simple inquiry that soon turns complicated if you are trying to teach an artificial neural network to produce a database query based on the question – something that could be usefully applied in an academic setting.
Congratulations to Professors Tal Arbel and Christophe Dubach who has just been named as two of the outstanding researchers to join the prestigious CIFAR AI Program, the goal of which is to "recruit and retain in Canada some of the world's leading researchers in AI and provide them with long-term, dedicated research funding to support their research programs, and to help them train the next generation of AI leaders" (
CIFAR today announced its newest cohort of Canada CIFAR AI Chairs, which includes nine researchers from McGill University, bringing the total number of McGill researchers named to the program to 17. These top academic researchers are part of the $125 million Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, the world’s first national strategy of its kind. The Canada CIFAR AI Chair Program represents an investment of $30 million at nine universities, and mobilizes over 150 researchers across the country.
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) today announced the inaugural cohort of 29 Canada CIFAR AI (CCAI) Chairs, including six from McGill. These top academic researchers—including Doina Precup and Joëlle Pineau—are named as part of the $125 million Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, and will help maintain Canada’s leadership in artificial intelligence research. The CCAI Chair Program represents an investment of $30 million at nine universities across the country.

By James Martin
McGill professors Corinne Maurice and Kieran O’Donnell have been appointed to the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program, a new initiative that helps outstanding early-career researchers develop the leadership and communication skills, and network connections, they’ll need to solve some of our most pressing problems

As scientists continue to hunt for a material that will make it possible to pack more transistors on a chip, new research from McGill University and Université de Montréal adds to evidence that black phosphorus could emerge as a strong candidate.
