Google is setting up its first international DeepMind lab in Canada

Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence team has been based in the UK ever since it was acquired in 2014. However, it's now branching out, with its first international research lab opening later this month in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The new research team will be led Richard Sutton, professor of computing science at the University of Alberta, who was also DeepMind’s first outside advisor, along with his colleagues Michael Bowling and Patrick Pilarski. Joining them will be seven AI researchers as well as nearly a dozen University of Alberta graduates. Google has had ties to the university for many years, and actually sponsors the university’s machine learning lab.

Sutton is a particularly notable figure in the AI community, known for his pioneering work in the field of reinforcement learning. This is a technique that allows computer agents to teach themselves through trial-and-error, with researchers programming virtual rewards when they do the right thing. DeepMind has used a variation of this method - known as deep reinforcement learning - in many of its programs.

In a press statement, Sutton said that the new lab will “turbo-charge the research ecosystem” and “drive a whole host of new scientific breakthroughs right here in Canada, propelling the field of AI forwards into exciting new territory.”

Source: DeepMind

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