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Montreal has already positioned itself as a global artificial intelligence hub. Now the push is on to make it the place where the ethical framework for its responsible development is shaped.

The use of AI is growing rapidly and the technology is becoming more sophisticated. As it is adopted into more and more areas, the risk that AI could cause harm is growing. Some of those risks, experts say, are already here.

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The ethical AI movement is being fuelled by both the private sector and people affiliated with universities — although in the world of AI, those two spheres tend to overlap.

It’s partially an effort to encourage the people developing AI systems, and the companies commercializing them, to start thinking about the ethical implications of their work. It’s also a way to get out ahead of government in an effort shape the regulatory framework that could eventually govern the use of AI.

One of the people behind the responsible AI push is Renjie Butalid, the co-founder of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute.