Martine St-Victor: C2 Montréal conference an antidote to despair

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It’s been easy to feel despair in the last couple of years as certain enduring social issues seemed to have been amplified by the pandemic.

Attending this year’s edition of C2 Montréal, for the first time fully in-person since the world shut down in March 2020, brought me comfort and was a reminder that, in fact, there are solutions to many of these ailments and that things can — and will be — OK.

C2, which brings together creatives and commercial types, dedicated an entire afternoon to AI (Artificial Intelligence). It was a celebration, really, of all the accomplishments of Canadian companies in this domain. To this neophyte, following the event’s programming was like sitting in class.

The first time I really understood the potential of AI was when, years ago, I was writing a text message to a friend when my phone correctly predicted, as soon as I typed the letter “L,” that the restaurant I was about to suggest for dinner was Leméac. Years later, I still find this predictivity impressive (yet creepy).

AI is of course much more than knowing, even before you do, what you want to text. For example, AI offers advances in health care. The pandemic reminded us of how much we need health care to become more efficient, more human and more accessible. I listened in awe as the likes of locals Therence Bois of Valence Discovery, Alexis Smirnov from Dialogue and Marina Massingham of Aifred Health proposed AI-supported solutions to fix some of our health-care system’s shortcomings. AI can help speed the development of prescription drugs, ameliorate tele-medecine and improve the treatment of depression.

As eco-anxiety rates rise and represent a driver for climate action, headlines in recent weeks about devastation from the Magdalen Islands to Puerto Rico have served as crystal clear reminders of the urgent need for responses to climate change. Enter Artificial Intelligence. Such local AI innovators as Innovobot and Brainbox AI offer solutions for smarter and more energy-efficient cities, notably by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

To some, all this talk of AI sounds like the script of a sci-fi film in which every character is wearing black from head to toe. Others hear the initials and think about their personal information being used without their consent. It’s a concern I share, but when listening to Luc Vinet, CEO of IVADO — a Montreal-based AI research institute — I felt reassured. With a community of researchers and academics, IVADO works not only on the technology of AI, but also on its ethics, understanding that for the marriage between machine and human to work, there must be trust.

Amid the innovation and technology on display, perhaps most impressive of all is that this work is being done in Montreal. C2 showcased some of the city’s sharpest minds and most spirited entrepreneurial talents. It’s a reminder that our city is a leader in this ever-changing world and that one of the things we do best is startups.

We should celebrate the success of such leaders as Mila, a hub for more than 900 researchers, and Scale AI, an architect of this week’s C2 event and of next year’s new All In Conference, that will bring the world’s AI innovators to the city.

What is being accomplished in Montreal in the world of AI should be shouted from rooftops. For a time, I was a bit reluctant to have that much technology in our lives, and felt skeptical. I now understand its power and how it can improve the lives of so many here and beyond borders, connecting us as never before — and not only those privileged enough to have access to all types of tech gadgets.

Mostly, what I now understand is that there’s nothing fake about the city’s talent in artificial intelligence. And that’s something to boast about.