Elham Alipour, chief scientist, Charli AI. Photo credit: Alipour on LinkedIn
No matter where I go, AI is there. It’s a stalwart of my Twitter feed. It’s in my inbox. We have an (already sold-out) event focused on it this week. It came up at a conference I attended halfway across the world. I was sure I wasn’t alone in feeling the AI onslaught. Turns out, there are more than a dozen other locals whose feeds or conference agendas are even more dialed than mine. Here are 13 leaders to know, listed alphabetically.
Elham Alipour, chief scientist, Charli AI
In November, Alipour and co launched Ancaeus: its new generative AI platform that can discover, understand, and use facts from millions of pieces of content to generate insights, spreadsheets, presentations, and well-written natural language reports.
Quotable: I think the biggest mistake people make when thinking about AI is thinking of it as a single “thing”. The truth is, AI is a complex and sophisticated orchestration of various algorithms and processes. It’s the sum of its various parts.
Maryam Antikchi, founder and CTO, Ecoation
Antikchi’s company combines AI, machine learning, and agriculture to create a more sustainable food system. In May 2021, Ecoation received $3.1 million for its farming-as-a-service product courtesy of Sustainable Technology Development Canada.
Quotable: Let your curiosity drive you, not the thought of what others think of you. Don’t be intimidated by the overconfidence of those around you or the fact that there are not as many women in the role you are pursuing. If you have an idea and an opinion, speak up. Focus on the problem and take joy in solving it.
Nat Cartwright, director of strategic initiatives and co-founder, Finn.ai
Cartwright’s Finn.ai, an AI-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions, was acquired by New York-based software company Glia this past summer.
Quotable: When I reflect on the journey, what I remember from each part is the people. Over the course of Finn.ai, we've had over 250 incredible team members contribute their talent, dozens of investors and advisors share their wisdom, and an unparalleled support network through our vibrant Vancouver ecosystem, and – of course – in our families, without whom the journey is simply not possible.
Suzanne Gildert and Olivia Norton, co-founders, Sanctuary.ai
The pair are co-leading one of Vancouver’s most investable companies: recent rounds include $75.5 million in March 2022 and $30 million in November 2022.
Quotable (Olivia Norton): I occasionally regret the handyman-versus-the-specialist approach that I take to life. I like to try and do a lot of things, and usually that is great because I can pick up anything and make it go. But sometimes I really wish for the focus and the expertise of just a single driving motivation.
Anne Hunger, co-founder and CPO, GlüxKind Technologies
GlüxKind’s AI-powered smart stroller was reportedly a show stopper at the most recent Consumer Electronics Show.
Quotable: So when the child is inside, the stroller is fully motorized going uphill, downhill, it's no effort — it's actually not pushing, it's more steering the stroller. It also doesn't run away from you if you happen to let go on a downhill, because it senses the distance to the user and has automatic braking.
Xiaoxiao Li, assistant professor, UBC
Li works in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia. Before joining the school, she was at a pair of Ivy League institutions: Princeton University as a postdoc research fellow, and Yale University where she picked up her doctoral degree.
Quotable: My current research lies in machine learning and its application to healthcare and blockchain. Our research topics cover deep learning, computer vision, trustworthy AI, data economy, medical image analysis and so on. I aim to narrow the gap between AI research and its applications by developing the next-generation trustworthy AI systems.
Angelica Lim, assistant professor of professional practice in Computing Science, AI, and Robotics at SFU
Lim’s research interests focus on human-robot interaction, affective computing, multimodal perception and learning, and developmental robotics. She teaches an introduction to computer science course, as well as software engineering, robotics, and AI.
Quotable: Ever since I was little, I imagined robots as kind and compassionate. I wondered: “Could a robot have feelings?” and “How would that even work?” My research addresses this question by combining neuroscience, machine learning, and developmental psychology.
Eimear Nolan, head of machine learning, Unbounce
Nolan leads a multi-disciplinary prototyping team that applies machine learning to marketing with the aim of helping Unbounce customers get the most from their e-commerce presence.
Quotable: Nolan is a panelist at our upcoming #vtjtalks event. Join the waitlist or stay tuned for a recap to hear her quotes for yourself.
Holly Peck, VP of special projects, Soul Machines
In addition to this executive role with the San Francisco-based firm, Peck is the founder and director of Women Who Code Vancouver.
Quotable: Throughout my career, I’ve built cognitive AI systems for humanoid robots and created IP around ethical human-robot interaction. I’ve led engineering teams on the creation and delivery of AI Digital People. Recently, I co-founded a data startup and advise and invest in underrepresented technical founders. Often, I think about what makes us human.
Karin Schmidlin: AI researcher, UX designer, lecturer, and doctoral student
Schmidlin wears many hats: co-founder and design lead of Carbon Labs Agency; an instructor at Emily Carr and Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Centre; and a doctoral student at UBC.
Quotable: I stumbled over my passion for teaching by accident in a classroom at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver back in 2007. It has provided me with a rewarding career ever since. Later, I moved to Ontario to become a teaching-stream lecturer at the University of Waterloo's School of Interaction Design and Business. After 16 years of teaching, I decided to become a student again and pursue a PhD, in – you guessed it – education.
Rogayeh Tabrizi, director, AIinBC
In addition to her work directing the organization to put the local AI space on the world stage, Tabrizi is a director with International Women’s Forum, and founder and CEO of AI agency Theory+Practice.
Quotable: I didn’t decide to become an entrepreneur for a specific reason — it just happened (which is another story). That said, at a certain point I realized that being a creator has the potential to make a large positive impact. There is nothing better than being able to be at the source of creating new things that open up opportunities for serving others. Theory+Practice was born from the desire to connect theory and practice, and to bridge the gap between academia and the world of business.
Paola Telfer, co-founder and CEO, Sens.ai
The honorific “sensei” refers to someone whose age and wisdom shapes their excellence as a teacher. Telfer, the CEO and co-founder of the Whistler-based company Sens.ai, runs the business — a hardware/software play that provides neurotherapy — that shares not only the word’s pronunciation but its meaning, too.
Quotable: [Neurotherapy] is not a new methodology by any stretch, but we are using technology to unleash it.
Jessica Yip: co-founder, COO, and board member of A&K Robotics
At A&K, a self-driving technology company, Yip’s leadership not only supports her company but a commitment to developing Canada as a technology powerhouse by actively building partnerships with research institutions and industry leaders both locally and abroad.
Quotable: In 2014, I quit my job because I wanted more purpose. I worked hard for my company but I’d be asking myself: “What was I doing for everybody else? Am I doing anything to make lives better in my community?” So, I quit […] I was ready to go all-in on a new venture, but nothing got me out of my seat until my friends Matt [Anderson] and Anson [Kung], who are now my co-founders, came to me with an idea. An idea for robots.