AI industry leaders in Edmonton for Upper Bound conference

Thousands of students and researchers are in Edmonton for the fourth annual Upper Bound conference on artificial intelligence.

Leaders in artificial intelligence have congregated in Edmonton for what is known as the industry’s premier conference.

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Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) is hosting the May 20-23 event called Upper Bound.

Participants will discuss the latest AI insights, the future of AI, and its role in different industries.

Speakers include executives and developers from big tech, including Google, Jobber and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.

More than 6,000 people are expected to attend the conference, according to Lynda Vang, with Amii.

“One of the biggest draws this year is not just AI in the workforce, or AI in business, but AI and literacy was also a very important programming track that we have,” Vang said.

“As people grow to adopt these AI tools, we need to learn how to use them in a responsible way. It’s like when the internet first came out.”

As people learn more about AI and how to use it safely, they become less scared of it, Vang added.

Amii is also scheduled to announce a “special initiative” with Google on Wednesday.

Edmonton is known for AI research, including Dr. Richard Sutton’s, which won the Turing Award in March.

• AI research nets University of Alberta professor Turing Award