Google Canada launches $13 million AI Opportunity Fund

BNN Bloomberg is Canada’s definitive source for business news dedicated exclusively to helping Canadians invest and build their businesses.

Google Canada announced a new $13 million fund aimed at improving Canada’s AI labour force.

The AI Opportunity Fund will provide funding to four Canadian organizations for training to improve AI skills and development across the country, according to a press release from Google Canada Wednesday. The list of organizations includes the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, the First Nations Technology Council, Skills for Change, as well as the Toronto Public Library

“AI is transforming the way we work and can empower people across almost every field,” Sabrina Geremia, a country managing director at Google Canada, said in the press release.

“Canada is uniquely positioned to capture the immense AI opportunity, by putting this technology to work. The AI Opportunity Fund will help upskill Canadians nationwide, strengthen our workforce, and prepare Canadians for an AI-powered economy.”

The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute will provide foundational skills to post-secondary students across the country, the release said. First Nations Technology Council will train Indigenous students and provide AI-related resources aiming to increase the number of Indigenous workers in the tech sector.

Skills for Change will provide training for individuals coming from communities facing lower levels of employment. Meanwhile the Toronto Public Library will work to address the “digital divide” by launching AI upskilling initiatives, the release said.

The release highlighted Canada’s history of AI research and said the country is “well positioned’ to succeed in the industry, highlighting a report predicting generative AI to boost the economy by $230 billion.

“As AI rapidly transforms our world, it’s crucial that members of society understand and have the skills and abilities to shape and leverage these changes,” Vickery Bowles, the city librarian at Toronto Public Library, said in the release.