AI integration in focus at Advance Manitoba

On Tuesday, a robot dog demonstrated its capabilities at the Advance Manitoba conference, organized jointly by the Winnipeg and Manitoba chambers of commerce. The event aimed to educate business executives on integrating artificial intelligence into their companies. The robot, supplied by Unitree Robotics from China, featured a lidar scanner on its head for gathering data in hazardous environments.

Lesley Klassen, New Media Manitoba's senior manager of AI services and initiatives, explained that the robot could be utilized in various industries, such as scanning river basin bottoms. The conference featured speeches from experts in the field, including a University of Waterloo economics professor and Canada Goose's chief digital information officer.

Attendees included representatives from technology sector businesses and educational institutions, such as Byron Wright and Mahdi Abouei from the University of Manitoba, who discussed the integration of AI in teaching and research.

New Media Manitoba, a digital technologies sector council, has funded around 30 Manitoba companies' AI adoption and commercialization projects this year. The organization aims to de-risk projects and provide practical guidance for businesses considering AI integration. The conference was part of Manitoba AI Pathways, a $2-million provincial initiative to train small and medium-sized businesses on AI technologies.