The University of Toronto hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on campus last week to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) – its rise, potential applications, and opportunities for collaboration between the University of Toronto and its South Korean partners.
President Yoon hailed Toronto as an AI powerhouse, saying Canada’s status as a global AI leader and center of the global AI supply chain was the result of early recognition by the country of the potential economic and social impacts of the technology.
He also highlighted the tenacity and perseverance of researchers such as university teacher Skilled Geoffrey Hintona pioneer in the field of deep learning AI, served as a “benchmark” for South Korean efforts to advance future technologies, adding that he was delighted to visit the University of Toronto, that he described as “one of the most prestigious universities in North America.
President of U of T Meric GertlerFor its part, said he was “deeply honored” to welcome President Yoon, who he said “has made it a priority to work closely with South Korea’s allies and partners, in advancing openness, human rights, democracy and the rule of law, with clear purpose and integrity.”
Speaker Gertler noted that the South Korean delegation’s visit comes at a time when Toronto has become the third-largest tech hub in North America, with the city’s artificial intelligence and machine learning ecosystem at the forefront. heart of this growth.
“Together with the Vector Institute, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIRA), MaRS and other partners – all within walking distance of this room – we have created one of the richest pools of talent in the world” , said President Gertler.
He added that the University of Toronto, its local partners and South Korean organizations have a lot to learn from each other when it comes to AI research, development, innovation and education.
“Partnering with Korea’s leading universities, innovative companies and exceptionally talented researchers is an extraordinary opportunity for all parties to benefit as we deepen our collective commitment to excellence and to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. .”
President Yoon’s visit to the University of Toronto took place on the first day of his two-day visit to Canada, which included a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa the next day.
It also came less than two weeks after the Ontario government concluded a trade mission to South Korea and Japan, led by Vic Fedeli, provincial minister of economic development, job creation and trade.
Fedeli, who attended the event from the University of Toronto, said Toronto’s reputation as a global AI hub regularly impressed him during his time in South Korea.
“Every stop we made, we heard people talking about Canada, about AI, about the U of T, about the Vector Institute – they see Canada as a real leader in AI and they are very eager to learn,” Fedeli said.
He noted that there is a strong desire in South Korea to see more Korean students come to Canada to further their education in STEM fields, including AI. “They want a bigger influx of Korean students – and we told them, ‘The door is open,’ because we really believe it’s going to help society. We’ve seen some examples of what AI has done and we very much look forward to continuing to see the development of AI.”
Fedeli added that he hopes the high-level meeting will further strengthen the economic relationship between Ontario and South Korea, helping to spark advances in AI that will give Ontario and Korean businesses a competitive advantage over the World Scene.
Held at Simcoe Hall, the meeting included a panel discussion titled “AI for a Better Future for Humanity,” which featured AI leaders and luminaries, including Hinton and Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT (Information and Communication) of the Republic of Korea Technology).
The conference, moderated by Lea CowenU of T Vice President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives, also included contributions from Garth GibsonPresident and CEO of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence; Elissa Strome, Executive Director of Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at CIFAR; and teacher Lisa Austinholder of a chair in law and technology at the Faculty of Law of the U of T and associate director at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.
Attendees saw demonstrations from U of T professors and graduate students from the U of T Robotics Institute, as well as presentations from South Korean companies, including Samsung and LG. – both of whom have expanded their presence and ties to Toronto and the U of T in recent times. years – and was also used to announce a new U of T exchange program with the South Korean government’s Institute for Information and Communication Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP).
On AI, Hinton said he believes the deep learning revolution is just beginning and expects tremendous growth in the coming years.
“We now know that if you take a neural network and scale it up and give it more data and more computing power, it will work better. So even without new science, things will get better,” Hinton said during the roundtable. “But we also know that tens of thousands of bright young minds are currently thinking about how to improve these networks, so there will be a lot of new scientific knowledge.”
In the long term, Hinton said he envisions an AI hardware revolution led by advances in “neuromorphic hardware” — computers and hardware that model artificial neural networks.
“I think Korea could have a big role to play in this,” Hinton said, noting that one of the world’s leading experts in this field is Sebastian Seung, Samsung’s president and chief research officer, who has attended the Simcoe Hall event.
When asked to share his thoughts on how Canada achieved its leadership position in the field of AI, Hinton cited three fundamental factors: a tolerant and liberal society that encourages cutting-edge researchers to s ‘install here; federal government funding for curiosity-driven basic research; and CIFAR’s 2004 funding of the Neural Computation and Adaptive Perception program, which is credited with starting the deep learning revolution.
After the discussion, event attendees, including students from the University of Toronto, watched presentations on avenues for AI research and collaboration by representatives from five South Korean companies: LG, Samsung, Naver, KT (formerly Korea Telecom) and SK Telecom.
Alex MihailidisU of T associate vice president, international partnerships, then announced that U of T had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Seoul-based IITP to launch a binational AI education program.
“We anticipate that in the fall of 2023, we will accept 30 Korean students who will follow a tailor-made program around AI and its applications,” Mihailidis said. “This is a groundbreaking program that we hope will not only flourish here in Toronto, but will hopefully grow in our two great countries and around the world.
Earlier, Mihailidis and President Gertler led President Yoon and Fedeli through four demonstrations showcasing some of the cutting-edge technologies being developed by U of T faculty and their graduate students.
Technologies included: a wearable robotic exoskeleton for gait assistance and rehabilitation demonstrated by Mihailidis and a postdoctoral researcher Brokoslaw Laschowski; sensory soft robotic hand for human-robot interaction demonstrated by teacher Xinyu Liu from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, graduate student Zhanfeng Zhou and post-doctoral researcher Pan Peng; a multimodal perception system for autonomous vehicles presented by Jiachen (Jason) Zhou, a graduate student in robotics and aerospace engineering; and a nanorobot for precision manipulation under an electron microscope which was demonstrated by Yu SunProfessor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Director of the Robotics Institute at the University of Toronto.
Read a story about the visit to the Korea Timetables
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