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CPD Accredited Programme

World Summit AI Canada 

15-16 APRIL 2025

 

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  • Tuesday 15th
  • 08:00 - 09:20
    REGISTRATION
  • 09:20 - 09:25
    WELCOME InspiredMinds! Sarah Porter, CEO and Founder, InspiredMinds, UN Advisor LAWS, Former AI Advisor, Homeland Security
    • Sarah Porter, CEO and Founder, InspiredMinds, UN Advisor LAWS, Former AI Advisor, Homeland Security

  • 09:25 - 09:35
    WELCOME to Montréal Anne Nguyen, Chief AI Officer, Quebec Innovation Council
    Magda Popeanu, City councillor, Responsible for organizational performance, citizen participation and democracy, Ville de Montréal
    • Anne Nguyen, Chief AI Officer, Quebec Innovation Council

    • Magda Popeanu, City councillor, Responsible for organizational performance, citizen participation and democracy, Ville de Montréal

  • 09:35 - 09:40
    WELCOME and chairperson’s opening remarks Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!
    • Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!

  • 09:40 - 10:05
    HEADLINER: The Physical AI Revolution: Pioneering Autonomous Vehicles with Generative AI Professor Raquel Urtasun, Founder & CEO, Waabi

    The AI revolution is transcending the digital realm to reshape our physical world—with autonomous vehicles at the vanguard of this transformation. This new frontier demands innovative approaches to building AI systems that prioritize sustainability, efficiency and safety. In this keynote, Professor Raquel Urtasun will explore how Waabi is pioneering next-generation AV2.0 approach based on an end-to-end interpretable and verifiable AI model, powered by the industry’s most realistic neural simulator, beginning with autonomous trucking. These systems represent a critical breakthrough in Physical AI, enabling vehicles that adapt to complex environments with unprecedented reliability while dramatically improving the movement of goods and road safety.

    • Professor Raquel Urtasun, Founder & CEO, Waabi

  • 10:05 - 10:20
    EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT: Quadrupling down on Montréal: AI investment announcements Stéphane Paquet, President and CEO, Montréal International
    Giovanni Iacovino, VP of Technology, Alexa Translations
    Marco Buchbinder, Founder & CEO, Ampliwork
    Loïc Juillard, CTO, SafelyYou
    Eric Pritchett, President & COO, Terzo

    Four cutting-edge artificial intelligence companies are investing in their Montréal teams. Come hear from them about their groundbreaking technologies, and what’s behind their current move to the city!

    • Stéphane Paquet, President and CEO, Montréal International

    • Giovanni Iacovino, VP of Technology, Alexa Translations

    • Marco Buchbinder, Founder & CEO, Ampliwork

    • Loïc Juillard, CTO, SafelyYou

    • Eric Pritchett, President & COO, Terzo

  • 10:20 - 10:45
    IN CONVERSATION Moderator:
    Fawn Hudgens, Chief Editor & Content Director, InspiredMinds!
    Speaker:
    Chandra Donelson, Author of The Data Detective and CDAO, USSF (United States Space Force)

    *Chandra Donelson is speaking in her personal capacity.

    • Moderator:

    • Fawn Hudgens, Chief Editor & Content Director, InspiredMinds!

    • Speaker:

    • Chandra Donelson, Author of The Data Detective and CDAO, USSF (United States Space Force)

  • 10:45 - 11:05
    REFRESHMENTS AND NETWORKING

    BOOK SIGNING! Chandra Donelson will be signing limited complimentary copies of her new book, The Data Detective at the Carnival

  • WORLD SUMMIT AI PLENARY: Chair:
    Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!
    • 11:05 - 11:35
      PANEL DISCUSSION: AI Safety and Governance: Navigating the Path to Ethical and Responsible Innovation Moderator:
      Alyssa Lefaivre Škopac, Director of AI Trust & Safety, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)
      Panellists:
      Bill DeWeese, CTO, Airia
      Ashley Casovan, Managing Director, AI Governance Center, IAPP
      Pamela Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer, TELUS Communications

      This panel will discuss best practice to tackle the pressing challenges and opportunities in the responsible development and deployment of AI

      • Ensuring AI Alignment with Human Values:
      • Regulatory Approaches to AI Governance:
        • Analyzing global and regional approaches to AI regulation (EU AI Act, US AI Strategy, etc.).
        • The role of governments vs. private companies in shaping AI policy.
      • Ethical AI in High-Risk Domains:
        • Addressing AI’s role in sensitive fields like healthcare, criminal justice, and national security.
        • Implementing safeguards to avoid harmful consequences in these sectors.
      • Collaboration Across Stakeholders:
        • Fostering collaboration between governments, tech companies, academics, and civil society.
        • Promoting international dialogue and agreements on AI safety and governance.
      • Moderator:

      • Alyssa Lefaivre Škopac, Director of AI Trust & Safety, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)

      • Panellists:

      • Bill DeWeese, CTO, Airia

      • Ashley Casovan, Managing Director, AI Governance Center, IAPP

      • Pamela Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer, TELUS Communications

    • 11:40 - 12:00
      HEADLINER: Unlocking Trust: The Blueprint for AI Safety Pamela Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer, TELUS Communications

      In a world where AI is transforming industries at lightning speed, how can organizations build trust while driving innovation? Join Pam Snively as she shares powerful insights from TELUS’ globally recognized journey in responsible AI and data enablement.

      This compelling talk will equip leaders with the tools to foster trust inside and outside their organizations, design ethical AI frameworks that fuel innovation, and harness the true potential of data. With deep expertise in AI governance, data ethics, and privacy, Pam will reveal real-world strategies to navigate the complexities of AI safely, and explore the critical intersection of trust, technology, and responsible innovation in today’s AI-driven world.

      • Pamela Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer, TELUS Communications

    • 12:05 - 12:25
      HEADLINER: From Lab to Launchpad - Overcoming Enterprise Adoption Hurdles Durga Kota, Chief Technology Officer, Fujitsu North America

      Can AI truly transcend the lab and revolutionize industries? This session challenges us to move beyond theoretical potential and confront the realities of applied AI. We’ll dissect the hurdles of enterprise adoption – data silos, workflow fragmentation, and the crucial element of trust – and explore how strategic partnerships can pave the way for real-world impact. But the journey doesn’t stop there. We’ll peer into the future of Agentic AI, questioning what it will take to unleash the power of autonomous agents within our organizations. Are we ready to redefine work itself, or will the path to agentless services remain a distant horizon? Join us to grapple with the transformative power of AI, from driving immediate value to shaping the very nature of enterprise operations.

      • Durga Kota, Chief Technology Officer, Fujitsu North America

    • 12:30 - 12:50
      HEADLINER: Unlocking the Power of Confidential Computing: Securing Data in Use Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP, GPU Technologies and Engineering Software & Chief Software Officer, AMD

      Confidential computing is transforming the landscape of data privacy and security by enabling the processing of sensitive data in a secure and isolated environment, even while data is actively in use. This capability is particularly critical for AI applications, which rely heavily on large volumes of sensitive data during training and inference. In this session, we will explore the key concepts and emerging technologies behind confidential computing, including trusted execution environments (TEEs), hardware-based security measures, and their real-world applications. You will gain an understanding of how confidential computing mitigates the risks of data breaches and ensures compliance with privacy regulations, empowering organizations to leverage sensitive data without compromising security.

      • Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP, GPU Technologies and Engineering Software & Chief Software Officer, AMD

  • TRACK 1: WORKSHOPS
    • 11:05 - 12:05
      WORKSHOP 1 – 60 mins: Say Whaaat?! AI Adoption In Your Company Does Not Need to Take Months and Cost Hundreds of Thousands of Consultant Dollars Patrick St-Amant, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Zetane Systems
      Guillaume Hervé, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Zetane Systems

      Many companies are being left behind in AI transformation because they are being pitched old, expensive, time-consuming schedules that do not guarantee results or employee adoption. Having completed over 40 industrial and business AI projects, the CEO and CTO of Zetane will share their real-world experiences and divulge how your company can save millions, and bypass traditional long-cycle AI projects, to achieve results, safely. Whether your AI strategy is to do it yourself, do it with a partner, or completely outsource it, you will see how months of development time can be saved by avoiding costly mistakes involved in the waterfall process of POC, MVPs, MLOps and Deployment. In this session, our team will walk you through the process to help demystify pipelines and explain a more efficient way of developing robust AI-powered tools that everyone in your organization will want to use.

      • Patrick St-Amant, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Zetane Systems

      • Guillaume Hervé, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Zetane Systems

    • 12:15 - 12:45
      WORKSHOP 2 – 30 mins: Next Gen LLMOps: Modern practices to operate Gen AI safely and efficiently Jérémie Farret, Chief Executive Officer/ Chief Technology Officer, Mind in a Box

      This workshop presents “Next Gen LLMOps”, modern LLM practices to operate your gen AI model safely and harmoniously with your data, either enriching its input (RAG) or generating new data from it (Deep Data). 

       

      With countless gen AI solutions emerging all over the world, the question of using these solutions safely and efficiently, as well as customizing them for a better fit with your operations, comes up more and more frequently. While terms like DevOps, DataOps, even MLOps have been coined over the years to refer to the rationalisation of practices linked to development, data processing or machine learning, LLMOps is an emerging term linked to Large Language Models practices. 

       

      LLMOps aims to solve difficulties ranging from aggressive user licenses all the way to geopolitics. This workshop will focus on presenting some simple, pragmatic solutions which can help overcoming these difficulties : from deploying on premise architectures to hybrid infrastructure, we will review how gen AI models can be put to use to your benefit, while minimizing the risks. Implanted, real world examples will illustrate these solutions.

      • Jérémie Farret, Chief Executive Officer/ Chief Technology Officer, Mind in a Box

  • 12:50 - 13:40
    LUNCH AND NETWORKING
  • WORLD SUMMIT AI PLENARY: Chair:
    Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!
    • 13:40 - 14:10
      PANEL DISCUSSION: What do AI ‘Distillation’ and the Emergence of Cost-Effective AI Models mean for AI development? Moderator:
      James Gatto, Partner and AI Team Leader, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
      Panellists:
      Dr Colleen Lyons, Ethicist, Large Government Agency
      Wendell Wallach, Semi-retired: Scholar/Author/Activist, Formerly: Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics & The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

      AI distillation and cost-effective models are reshaping AI development, raising crucial ethical and intellectual property (IP) questions. This panel explores the impact of model compression on transparency, fairness, and accountability, as well as the legal implications of deriving smaller models from proprietary or open-source systems. Who owns a distilled model? How do these processes affect original creators’ rights? Experts from AI research, law, and ethics will discuss these challenges and the safeguards needed for responsible AI innovation.

      • Moderator:

      • James Gatto, Partner and AI Team Leader, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

      • Panellists:

      • Dr Colleen Lyons, Ethicist, Large Government Agency

      • Wendell Wallach, Semi-retired: Scholar/Author/Activist, Formerly: Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics & The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

    • 14:10 - 14:30
      HEADLINER: Generalizable Autonomy in the age of Generative AI Animesh Garg, Senior Researcher, Nvidia Research; Stephen Fleming Early Career Professor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech

      Generalization in embodied intelligence, such as in robotics, requires interactive learning across families of tasks is essential for discovering efficient representation and inference mechanisms. Concurrent systems need a lot of hand-holding to even learn a single cognitive concept or a dexterous skill, say “open a door”, let alone generalizing to new windows and cupboards! This talk will present a perspective on how to build a stack of algorithms from low level control to high level reasoning. We will first talk about the use of Language Models to guide planning, then we will discuss how to build skills from imitation learning and reinforcement learning, and finally we will talk about a data generating platform to enable robot learning.

      • Animesh Garg, Senior Researcher, Nvidia Research; Stephen Fleming Early Career Professor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech

    • 14:30 - 14:50
      HEADLINER: Driving business value through ML and decision intelligence-enabled innovative solutions to provide enhanced services for the future. Ritesh Bansal, VP of Analytics Data, Insights and AI/ML Platform, Autodesk

      The integration of machine learning (ML) and decision intelligence is revolutionizing business operations by providing advanced, data-driven solutions that enhance service delivery and drive value. By leveraging ML algorithms for predictive analytics, optimization, and automation, organizations can streamline complex decision-making processes and unlock actionable insights. Decision intelligence frameworks, when coupled with ML models, empower businesses to improve accuracy, speed, and scalability of critical decisions in real-time. This session will dive into the technical aspects of how ML and decision intelligence are being used to build intelligent, scalable systems that enhance business outcomes, optimize resource allocation, and deliver high-performance services for the future. Participants will gain insights into the methodologies, tools, and architectures behind these innovations and how they can be applied to solve real-world business challenges.

      • Ritesh Bansal, VP of Analytics Data, Insights and AI/ML Platform, Autodesk

    • 14:55 - 15:15
      HEADLINER: Harnessing AI for Multimodal Data Analytics: Practical Applications in Health, Science, and Research Dr Helia Mohammadi, Chief AI & Precision Health Officer, Microsoft Canada

      Helia will explore the transformative potential of AI in harnessing multimodal data to drive advancements in health, science, and research,  delving into the research framework for AI, and emphasizing the importance of robust platforms and infrastructure to support AI innovation. The integration of multimodal health data analytics is highlighted, showcasing how AI can analyze diverse data types, including medical imaging modalities, to provide comprehensive insights and improve patient outcomes.

      Responsible AI practices and confidential computing are crucial in ensuring privacy and ethical use of AI. This includes transparency, accountability, AI safeguards, security and privacy, and bias mitigation to build trust and reliability in AI systems. Practical examples of AI applications in medical imaging and ambient voice analysis are presented, demonstrating how AI-driven analytics can enhance diagnostic accuracy, enhance preventive care, streamline clinical workflows, and reduce clinician burnout.

      • Dr Helia Mohammadi, Chief AI & Precision Health Officer, Microsoft Canada

    • 15:20 - 15:40
      HEADLINER: Secret Weapons Against AI Irrelevance: How to Reign Supreme with Giving Voice to Values and VUCA Voice  Dr Colleen Lyons, Ethicist, Large Government Agency
      • Dr Colleen Lyons, Ethicist, Large Government Agency

  • TRACK 1: AI IN ACTION USE CASES Chair:
    Alyssa Lefaivre Škopac, Director of AI Trust & Safety, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)
    • 13:40 - 14:00
      AI IN ACTION USE CASE: Sustainable Data Centers with Waste Heat Utilization Scot Bryson, Founder, Orbital Farm

      As data centers scale to support the exponential growth of AI and cloud computing, the environmental impact of their operations is intensifying. A key but often overlooked issue is waste heat. This session explores how innovative heat recovery systems, integrating energy delivery and optimized for integrated applications, can transform communities & data center operations into sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible solutions.

      • Scot Bryson, Founder, Orbital Farm

    • 14:05 - 14:25
      AI IN ACTION USE CASE: Harnessing the Power of AI in Telecom Siham Himer Soufiani, Chief Technology Officer, Major Accounts, Ericsson Canada
      Brad Stimpson, Director, Wireless Technology, Bell Canada

      As the telecommunications industry undergoes rapid transformation, AI stands at the forefront, driving unprecedented changes in network infrastructure, customer experiences, and business models. This discussion brings together industry leaders from Ericsson and Bell to explore how AI technologies, including GenAI, are shaping the future of telecom networks.

      • Siham Himer Soufiani, Chief Technology Officer, Major Accounts, Ericsson Canada

      • Brad Stimpson, Director, Wireless Technology, Bell Canada

    • 14:30 - 14:50
      IN CONVERSATION: Unlocking Business Potential with Synthetic Personas: The Future of Data-Driven Decision-Making Karine Courtemanche, Executive Vice President and President of the Media Group, Plus Company Canada
      Veronique Dumas, Chief Marketing Officer, Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec

      Imagine on-demand, tailored AI focus groups, adapting to your every need. In this session, Karine Courtemanche, EVP at Plus Company Canada, will unveil a groundbreaking use case alongside Veronique Dumas, Chief Marketing Officer of the Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec, a frontrunner in tourism marketing innovation. They’re leveraging synthetic personas to revolutionize research, enhance tourism experiences, and transform marketing strategies. At the heart of this revolution is “Smart Persona,” a tool that facilitates authentic conversations with synthetic consumers, yielding continuous consumer insights that are reshaping the consumer research landscape. The “Canadian Traveler” case study demonstrates how AI is revolutionizing modern marketing, from product innovation and message positioning to scenario testing, all while adhering to stringent privacy and confidentiality standards.

      • Karine Courtemanche, Executive Vice President and President of the Media Group, Plus Company Canada

      • Veronique Dumas, Chief Marketing Officer, Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec

    • 14:55 - 15:15
      AI IN ACTION USE CASE: Engineering the Impossible: Building "It's What's Inside: The Game" for Netflix Luke Ballantine, Technology Director, AKQA

      AKQA built a world-first to support the release of Netflix’s new body swapping movie: It’s What’s Inside. This was the first video conference game in the world that allows players to train AI models on their voice and face, and allow players to randomly puppet one of their friends – in real-time!

      AKQA will unpack the creative journey behind ‘It’s What’s Inside: The Game’, developed over an intense six-week timeline. In this session, they’ll dive into the AI technology, design considerations, massive compute requirements, scaling challenges, and key insights that made this ambitious project a reality.

      • Luke Ballantine, Technology Director, AKQA

  • 15:40 - 16:00
    REFRESHMENTS AND NETWORKING
  • 16:00 - 16:25
    HEADLINER: Beyond the Illusion: Reclaiming Human Autonomy in the Age of AI Jason Snyder, Global Chief AI Officer, Momentum Worldwide

    AI is no longer just a tool for processing data—it’s a system that predicts behavior, influences decisions, and reshapes reality in real-time. This headliner session explores how AI is accelerating faster than governance, outpacing ethics and rewriting the rules of human autonomy. From the illusion of consent to the myth of fairness, Snyder will explain how modern AI systems scale bias, erode trust, and manufacture synthetic truths. But this isn’t a dystopian warning—it’s a design challenge. Through provocative insights and real-world examples, this talk makes a case for intentional, explainable, and human-centered AI design—before predictive systems start making decisions for us, not with us. Attendees will walk away with a new framework for responsible innovation that prioritizes alignment over attention, consent over convenience, and design over default.

    • Jason Snyder, Global Chief AI Officer, Momentum Worldwide

  • 16:25 - 17:00
    PANEL DISCUSSION: Future-Proofing with AI: From Adoption to Optimization - Insights from Early Adopters and Innovators Moderator:
    Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!
    Panellists:
    Dr Yannick Lallement, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, Scotiabank
    Siham Himer Soufiani, Chief Technology Officer, Major Accounts, Ericsson Canada
    Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP, GPU Technologies and Engineering Software & Chief Software Officer, AMD

    The adoption of AI—both generative and analytical—continues to accelerate, with generative AI experiencing particularly rapid growth. Organizations are beginning to build the necessary frameworks and processes to unlock significant value from this technology. While many are still in the early stages of adoption, businesses are already redesigning workflows, strengthening governance, mitigating risks, and creating new AI-focused roles while reskilling their existing workforce for AI deployment. This panel will explore the opportunities and challenges of integrating emerging technologies, featuring insights from organizations that are well along in their AI journeys, offering valuable lessons on potential pitfalls and the substantial benefits to be reaped.

    • Moderator:

    • Matthew Blakemore, CEO, AI Caramba!

    • Panellists:

    • Dr Yannick Lallement, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, Scotiabank

    • Siham Himer Soufiani, Chief Technology Officer, Major Accounts, Ericsson Canada

    • Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP, GPU Technologies and Engineering Software & Chief Software Officer, AMD

  • 17:00 - 17:20
    HEADLINER: Harnessing Generative AI for E-Commerce: Wayfair’s Practical Journey Fiona Tan, CTO, Wayfair

    Join Fiona Tan, CTO of Wayfair, as she shares a grounded perspective on how Wayfair is integrating generative AI into its core retail operations. From scaling personalization to improving product discovery, learn how Wayfair is applying AI-driven solutions in real-world scenarios—and the challenges and lessons learned along the way.

    • Fiona Tan, CTO, Wayfair

  • 17:20 -