INTERVIEW: Japan, Canada Can Do More to Accelerate AI Adoption

By Hiroki Shimoo Tokyo, June 9 (Jiji Press)–Japan and Canada can work more closely together to accelerate the real-world adoption of artificial intelligence, an expert at a Toronto-based, cutting-edge research institute says. “AI will be the technology that will power the future,” Cameron Schuler, chief commercialization officer and vice president of industry innovation at the Vector Institute, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. “There are lots of opportunities for Japan and Canada to collaborate,” he also said, naming manufacturing, financial services, life sciences and other industries as promising areas of cooperation. The institute, established in 2017 with initial funding from the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments as well as private companies, engages in cutting-edge AI research and supporting businesses and other organizations in adopting the technology. At the institute, Geoffrey Hinton, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and a global authority on AI research, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, serves as chief scientific adviser. While mentioning “the risk aversion and conservative nature” of Japanese companies, Schuler stressed that the point of promoting AI is to extend the scope of human skills and abilities, enabling people to “do more ambitious things.” Taking health care as an example, he expects that AI will help advance the treatment of cancer or other diseases that currently have no cure. “I don’t know when, but we’ll have some big breakthroughs in the future. AI will be an enabler for a bunch of that.” Japan’s excellence in manufacturing was built by “being better than anyone else at it” and “AI is the same thing. If you want to be great using AI, you need to do things other people don’t,” Schuler said. “Your competitors will adopt AI and if you don’t, you will fall behind.” “Japanese and Canadian companies will benefit by being more aggressive, innovative and ambitious. I think we can help with that,” he said, calling for stronger collaboration with Japanese businesses. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]