Simardeep S.

Exciting news for my fellow AI enthusiasts! TELUS is collaborating with NVIDIA to launch Canada’s leading Sovereign AI Factory starting with a facility in Rimouski, Quebec. Businesses, start-ups, and researchers will now be able to access AI computing while keeping data safe within Canada’s borders. Sovereign, secure and sustainable. Check out this 1-minute video (https://bit.ly/4kWC1zk or visit telus.com/AIFactory to learn more. 💻 #TeamTELUS

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I have been contemplating the amazing opportunity to sit down with Shirlee Engel last week during DPI’s 2025 Professional Development Week in Ottawa to discuss Advancing Canada’s AI Leadership and take questions from an engaged audience of senior Canadian public sector leaders. Coming out of that event, one thing is clear: Canada is at a digital turning point. For the first time, we’re not just talking about modernization—we’re building toward it with purpose. From the federal platform’s direct mention of data centre modernization to Budget 2024’s $2.4B commitment to AI, we are aligning policy, investment, and public expectation. Canadians expect seamless, intuitive digital services—and we now have the mandate, tools, and urgency to deliver. AI is at the heart of this transformation. We’ve used traditional AI and ML in Canada for years, but generative and agentic AI are game changers. They offer us a chance to rethink how we work - from service delivery, policy modeling, and operations—if we get the implementation right. That means: ●       Building sovereign AI infrastructure with secure, trusted data models ●       Empowering the public service to work alongside intelligent tools—not be replaced by them ●       Using AI to solve real problems, from reducing wait times to enhancing access to public services This isn’t about hype. It’s about execution. And Canada has what it takes: deep talent, strong institutions, and a commitment to doing this the right way. As we modernize, we must also humanize. This transformation is about people—not just technology. Let’s invest in AI literacy, transparency, and responsible innovation across every level of government. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape AI and digital transformation in a way that reflects Canadian values—equity, trust, and service to the public good. Let’s lead with purpose. Let’s build boldly. #DPI #CGI #ResponsibleAI #DigitalGovernment #AIinCanada #PublicSectorInnovation #GovTech #Leadership #Policy #DigitalTransformation #AI #Canada

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Week one in role and already inspired by the AI work happening across Canada.   AltaML in Edmonton is leading the way by using AI to reduce hospital readmissions, improve wildfire response, and drive results across energy, health, and agriculture. This kind of impact is a powerful reminder of Canada’s strength.   Read more about Canada’s AI opportunity: https://lnkd.in/g9iGzay6

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Exciting news for my fellow AI enthusiasts! TELUS is collaborating with NVIDIA to launch Canada’s leading Sovereign AI Factory starting with a facility in Rimouski, Quebec. Businesses, start-ups, and researchers will now be able to access AI computing while keeping data safe within Canada’s borders. Sovereign, secure and sustainable. Check out this 1-minute video (https://bit.ly/4iyjGqM or visit telus.com/AIFactory to learn more. 💻 #TeamTELUS

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Just had an article in the Financial Post. It’s a call to rethink Canada’s role in the AI race — not as a builder of the biggest model, but as the global guardian of AI safety. Remember when BlackBerry ruled the boardroom? Not because it had the flashiest features — but because its crypto was bulletproof. Canada has done this before. We can do it again. We missed the model gold rush. That’s fine. The next big boom? AI security. And we’re sitting on the talent, the trust, and the playbook. Instead of trying to out-ChatGPT, maybe we lead where it really counts: trust, resilience, and infrastructure Made-Secure-in-Canada. Check out the piece — and let me know: could Canada be the brakes the AI world actually needs? Special thanks to Canadian Cybersecurity Network and Francois Guay for amazing support for this article! #AI #Cybersecurity #CanadaFirst #TrustworthyAI 

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Amazing to see students and faculty at @Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto leveraging #AWS high-performance computing to analyze 3D genome data in 10 minutes instead of 13 years. More and more breakthroughs are within our grasp. This is how cloud technology is reshaping education and research. Learn more about how the Donnelly Centre is leveraging cloud computing https://lnkd.in/gzEQAW68 #AWS #CloudComputing #HigherEd #hpc

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Graham 📊 Dobbs and my report on Canadian AI compute capacity was cited in Mark Carney’s “New Approach to Fiscal Management and Growth for Canada — We need a government that spends less, so Canada can invest more": "Canada's available compute resources—including its data centres, cloud, AI systems and supercomputers—are notably behind leaders such as the United States, Japan, and China, constraining the critical computing power essential for driving innovation. [...] To build more competitive manufacturing and services sectors, Canada must invest to become a clean energy superpower in nuclear, hydro power, wind, hydrogen, battery storage and carbon capture. To lead the AI revolution, we need to capitalise on our unique opportunity to build competitive data centres and intelligence infrastructure that are wired into the largest AI market in the world." Our report preceded the previously announced $2 billion federal AI investment and the Government of Canada’s proposed $15-billion to match $30 billion in pension fund investment in green data centres is far more important. Combined with Pierre Poilievre’s support for leveraging Canada’s energy sector to increase our data centres, Carney’s proposal captures a bi-partisan consensus that we need to invest more in public energy and data infrastructure. Canada’s greatest opportunity for overcoming our reliance on resources is building a sustainable and independent innovation sector with AI at its core. Our unique access to clean energy and land and history of AI leadership presents an opportunity to convert these resources into a data and tech advantage. Ensuring our data centres remain in the public interest will be crucial including local resource governance, social economic and labour market benefits; open and equitable access; and ethical data governance and stewardship. Thanks to The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University for the collaboration across their ongoing AI research spanning: infrastructure, skills and jobs, governance, and adoption. Marium Hamid Viet Vu Mark Hazelden Thanks to those who’ve supported our work on AI compute and governance including Henri Vilandré Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute; Marc Andrew IREN Daniel Brock Hon. David Lametti Alex Steinhouse Fasken Aftab Erfan Fergus Linley-Mota SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue Brandon Jackson Joshua Tan Public AI Matthew Victor Elissa Strome Tibor Turi, PhD P.Eng. CIFAR Tony Douglas, Jr. OECD.AI Akbar Nurlybayev CentML Nish Sinnadurai Cerebras Systems Artem Mamzhiev Ben Davies Vector Institute Colin McKay Waabi Tagging Honourable Michelle Rempel Garner, P.C., M.P. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith for their awareness. See below my recent photograph of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center housed in a former church.

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My new article on Canada's ill-fated Artificial Intelligence and Data Act: What was the AIDA, why did it fail to become law, and what's next for Canadian AI regulation amidst a turbulent political landscape? Canada's inability to pass comprehensive AI legislation is a unique and major failure of national AI policy. Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in Canada and around the world should study this case closely. Thank you to Montreal AI Ethics Institute for inviting me to contribute this piece! https://lnkd.in/e2u5yZDm

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