Artificial intelligence to be hot topic at Collision tech conference in Toronto

TORONTO — With the Collision technology conference taking place in Toronto, its chief executive expects much of the conversation at the event to focus on artificial intelligence.

According to Paddy Cosgrave, most of the top talks at the annual event delve into technology and how blue-chip brands and startups are using it to advance their companies.

He said it was unusual for a single topic to dominate the event, a change from last year when blockchain, cryptocurrencies and layoffs sparked controversy.

At this year’s Collision, the godfather of AI, Jeffrey Hinton, will take the stage to give talks by executives from Google’s AI research venture DeepMind and the founder of Canadian AI startup Cohere.

Cosgrave expects Hinton, who recently left Google to talk more freely about AI, will share some of his concerns about the technology.

Collision expects about 40,000 people to attend the four-day conference at the Enercare Center by the time it concludes Thursday night. It’s set to return to the city again in 2024, but no further locations have yet been announced.

This report by the Canadian Press Agency was first published on June 27, 2023.