U of T computer scientists highlighted in BetaKit's 'Most Ambitious' issue

(Photo: Matthew Volpe)

More than two dozen startups and entrepreneurs from the University of Toronto community are recognized in BetaKit’s first ‘Most Ambitious’ issue.

The online tech publication’s special issue aims to spotlight the “big swings” taken in tech and innovation in Canada.

Of the 85 tech players mentioned in the issue, nearly one third have a connection to U of T.

Among the people and companies recognized with ties to the Department of Computer Science are:

• Waabi, the autonomous trucking company founded by Professor Raquel Urtasun

• Cohere, the enterprise AI company launched by alumni Nick Frosst and Aidan Gomez; and former computer science student Ivan Zhang

• Associate Professor Jimmy Ba, founding member of xAI

• Alumnus and recent honorary degree recipient Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, and more recently, Safe SuperIntelligence

“This list demonstrates just how integral U of T-affiliated companies are to Canada’s innovation landscape in crucial fields ranging from sustainability and space tech to health care and transportation,” says Leah Cowen, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The university has long been committed to generating big ideas and game-changing research — and then providing the support necessary for ambitious entrepreneurs to move those discoveries out of the lab and into the world where they can have the most impact.”

With files from U of T Celebrates

Global News: U of T AI pioneers highlighted as key players in industry innovation

Some of the top innovators and developments in artificial intelligence have emerged from Canada in recent years, writes Global News, citing the contributions of U of T Department of Computer Science faculty and alumni.

The feature spotlights the work of University of Toronto luminary Geoffrey Hinton alongside other ‘godfathers of deep learning,’ Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun.

Tracing the genesis of modern advancements in AI, Global News highlights the seminal roles Hinton’s former students and alumni have played in the current AI boom, including Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, who is chief science officer and co-founder of OpenAI.

“I think over the next many years when people write books about the history of neural networks, which will be the history of AI, there will be huge sections dedicated to the people in Canada and what they were doing,” alumnus Nick Frosst told Global News.

Frosst is the co-founder of Toronto-based natural language processing startup Cohere, alongside fellow alumnus Aidan Gomez and Ivan Zhang, a former U of T computer science student.

Frosst points out heading to Silicon Valley isn’t necessarily the only option for those aspiring to a career in tech.

“I think that dream is less enticing to students as the years go on,” he said. “In part, it’s because Canada is getting better. There’s more opportunity here, there’s more companies, wages are going up — it’s a better place to be a developer,” Frosst told the outlet.

Read more at Global News.