Google's AI Research Facility Expands to Canada
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been up for debate for a long time. Creating something that can stand on par or be better than human intelligence carries a lot of risks that developers should be wary of. Fully understanding the potential for disaster, Google's drive to give the world everything it can offer has led them to expand the services and research facility of DeepMind to cover Canada.
Google's DeepMind is going to be working closely with Canada's University of Alberta, very much the same way it did with experts from the U.K. The research lab is set to be built in Edmonton, Canada. According to reports, the University of Alberta is a notable figure in the world of reinforced learning, from which the idea and definition of AIs originate from.
DeepMind has actually been working with he University of Alberta for a considerable amount of time. In fact, many of its students and graduates have joined their ranks in developing the highly debated technology. The new Edmonton-based research facility will be run by University of Alberta professors: Rich Sutton, Michael Bowling, and Patrick Pilarski. When asked about what he thinks of DeepMind Alberta, Sutton has a few things to say on the matter.
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"DeepMind has had a special emphasis on reinforcement learning right from the beginning, and the University of Alberta is the world's academic leader in reinforcement learning, so it's very natural we should work together," said Sutton, as reported by the facility's blog. "DeepMind Alberta will turbo-charge the research ecosystem, mirroring the partnerships DeepMind has nurtured with the top academic institutions in the UK. This alignment of academic and practitioner-led research will drive a whole host of new scientific breakthroughs right here in Canada, propelling the field of AI forwards into exciting new territory."
