Twenty years ago, Alberta Innovates planted seeds for the future by funding artificial intelligence research at the University of Alberta.

For most people, it was the realm of science fiction.

Some, however, had a sense of what it could become. At the dawn of the 21st century, the Alberta government set aside a $500 million endowment to create a fund with a competition to establish research groups for promising scientific fields. Among those created was what would become the Alberta Innovates Centre for Machine Learning.

Fast forward to present day and the Alberta Innovates Centre for Machine Learning is now called Amii-the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, and it's recognized as one of the top centres of artificial intelligence research and business development centres on the globe.

"Technology is increasingly enabling us to see beyond the obvious - to find opportunities and solutions previously hidden to us. We see Artificial Intelligence, or A.I. as an essential tool that allows us to transform data into information that humanity can act on and use to make better decisions. A.I. provides us with new ways of solving complex problems needing smart and creative solutions. By adopting A.I. in health, agriculture, energy, financial services, logistics, construction and engineering, Alberta can double-down on a knowledge-based economy complementary to and parallel to its existing economic drivers. Technologies that employ artificial intelligence will create over $50 trillion in economic impact by the year 2025 and have the potential to increase productivity by 40 percent or more (McKinsey & Company; Accenture)."

Laura Kilcrease, CEO, Alberta Innovates

Learn how some of the best and the brightest innovators across Alberta are using artificial intelligence at learnhow.albertainnovates.ca