Integrating an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) lens into artificial intelligence systems is no longer a luxury or optional, writes McGill Desautels Faculty Lecturer Simon Blanchette in The Conversation Canada. Without it, AI risks reinforcing existing biases. The creators of the technology should integrate EDI from the ground up, and adopt practices that promote its integration into their tools, like ensuring that development teams are diverse, establishing accountability frameworks, and cultivating inclusive work places.
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Published on: 29 Nov 2024
The Parti Québécois' recent 97-page immigration plan suggests replacing workers with automation in sectors facing labour shortages. However, Assistant Professor of Operations Management Rob Glew argues this approach is flawed. He points out that sectors of Quebec’s economy with the most acute labour shortages don’t lend themselves well to automation, like health care and early childhood education. “To just lump it in that robots are substitutes for immigrants totally misses the point,” Glew tells CTV News.
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Published on: 15 Nov 2024
AI-powered apps offering medical diagnoses at the click of a button are often limited by biased data and a lack of regulation, leading to inaccurate and unsafe health advice, a new study found.
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Published on: 6 Nov 2024
Congratulations to our winning teams of the Bensadoun School’s 2nd annual Retail Gen AI Hackathon.
We had 38 student teams register representing diverse faculties across McGill University. Over two days, 10 finalist teams hacked creative Gen AI solutions for our title sponsor ALDO Group.
Each team had an AWS mentor and access to support from IVADO Labs and DataSphere Lab team members.
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Published on: 10 Oct 2024
AI has become an omnipresent topic of discussion in our daily lives, both professionally and personally. While much has been written on the challenges, risks, and pitfalls of AI (and the strong need to regulate its development and deployment carefully), it's also important to highlight its numerous benefits and positive impacts on society and the economy.
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Published on: 11 Sep 2024
A new project led by McGill University researchers seeks to understand one of humanity’s oldest practices and most powerful tools—storytelling. From ancient oral traditions to modern-day literature and digital narratives, storytelling is an essential part of the lived experience that is not yet fully understood. ‘The Lives of Literary Characters’ is a first-of-its-kind initiative, harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and the collective wisdom of readers worldwide to explore the question: why do we tell stories?
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Published on: 23 Jan 2024
Artificial intelligence can identify patterns in data much faster and more effectively and efficiently than humans can, but it is only applicable to the specific contexts in which data was created. Even then, AI can replicate the data’s biases and encode them, resulting in a major limitation that can lead to discrimination on the basis of sex or ethnicity. This is of particular concern for public sector organizations, which need to be fair to those they serve.
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Published on: 10 Nov 2023
When endangered howler monkey populations cross Costa Rica’s roads, they are vulnerable to injury from electrical wires and passing cars. Associate Professor Juan Camilo Serpa, partnering with Reserva Conchal, is using artificial intelligence to help prevent these injuries from occurring.
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Published on: 20 Oct 2023
McGill Desautels Faculty of Management Professor Maxime Cohen was named Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer for Intégral, a digital accelerator that works with businesses to support their digital transformation and growth. The accelerator has offices in Canada and France, and supports their growth through multiple agencies that specialize in content, web infrastructure, analytics and digital marketing.
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Published on: 14 Jun 2023
Indigenous communities across the globe are fighting to retain their languages, which serve as means through which cultures, knowledge and traditions are preserved and transmitted between generations.
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Published on: 27 Jan 2023
Artificial intelligence chatbots that show positive feelings — such as adding an “I am excited to do so!” or a few exclamation marks — do not necessarily translate into positive reactions or contribute to higher customer satisfaction, according to a recent study by researchers from the University of South Florida, the Georgia Institute of Technology and McGill University.
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Published on: 15 Dec 2022
Montreal-based centre unites strengths of McGill University, ÉTS, Mila, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, and CentraleSupélec
Published on: 26 Apr 2022
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming our world in powerful ways, from improving medical care and changing the retail landscape to enabling convenient features on our smartphones. But as AI increasingly underpins our daily lives, important questions about its application – and potential misuse – will continue to arise.
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Published on: 16 Jun 2021
