The Initiative aims to highlight research and conversations focusing on the inclusion of voices and perspectives of women, youth, seniors, Indigenous People, LGBTQIA2S+, racialized communities, people with disabilities, and linguistic minorities–and those at the intersection of these identities.

Thanks to a generous gift from Scotiabank, the Initiative was announced on January 28th, 2020, with the creation of the Scotiabank Fund for the AI + Society Initiative at the University of Ottawa to support the development of a Canadian AI + Society Initiative, leading to a better understanding and framing of the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI research and its uses. The Scotiabank Fund supports two research programs on AI and Inclusion, and AI and Regulation. In Summer 2020, the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue funded a new research program on AI for Healthy Humans and Environments that lead to the creation of two additional research streams on AI and Healthcare and AI and Environment.  

The research program is organized in four streams:  

Incubated by the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society, the initiative builds on 20 years of award-winning research at Canada’s leading research hub for law, ethics and policy surrounding technology that operates in an interdisciplinary setting and includes researchers from the Faculties of Law, Social Sciences, Arts, and Engineering with more than 150 researchers and students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

For more information on research, publications, or how to get involved, please get in touch with the Initiative at [email protected] .