TORONTO — When the head of Microsoft Canada needed to write a letter of interest as part of an application to join a not-for-profit board, he decided to put the tech giant's software to the test.
Later, in an interview, Barry said he didn't think many other executives are using AI to the same degree, despite the hype that has built up around the technology over the last two years. But he urged workers of all ranks to get acquainted with it because the country's productivity is at stake. In November, BMO Capital Markets chief economist Douglas Porter declared the country"listless and lagging U.S. trends" because it had fallen behind its neighbour, the Nordic countries, most of Western Europe and Australia in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's productivity rankings.
Bengio and Hinton set up AI research hubs, the Vector Institute in Toronto and Mila in Montreal, to build on their findings and advance Canada's AI capabilities. Using AI should be on the minds of leaders too, said Barry, because it can boost productivity and even help automate business processes by reducing tasks that can be seen as"drudgery" because they are so monotonous, tedious or menial.
When companies are considering using AI, he said,"it's not about trying to apply it everywhere, but rather where are some places where it's impactful that can be brought to bear soon."