DeepMind Opens International AI Research Office in Edmonton, Alberta
Alphabet’s DeepMind is taking its AI research beyond its UK headquarters, establishing a new international office in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This research-focused office will be closely partnered with the University of Alberta, under the leadership of academics Rich Sutton, Michael Bowling, and Patrick Pilarski. This move highlights the growing trend of Canadian AI scholars contributing to private sector ventures while continuing their academic work.
The new office will be joined by Adam White, who will return to Alberta as an adjunct professor. Additionally, six other researchers who co-authored a recent paper on “DeepStack,” an AI system that garnered attention for defeating human professional poker players in no-limit Texas hold’em, will be part of the team.
The collaboration with the University of Alberta includes continued research funding from DeepMind. Google Canada’s Communications Director Aaron Brindle emphasizes the goal of attracting top talent to the region, contributing to Edmonton’s growth as a tech and research hub.
All three leading researchers at DeepMind Alberta share a focus on reinforcement learning, a field that attempts to mimic human learning by optimizing positive outcomes and avoiding negative ones. Notably, Rich Sutton served as DeepMind’s first advisor before its acquisition by Google in 2014. Furthermore, former University of Alberta alumni who now work at DeepMind have played a role in developing systems like AlphaGo and Atari-playing AI.
