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So DeepMind is coming to them.

“There’s going to be a global head-snap, with people asking, ‘Why are they coming to Edmonton?’ ” joked Pilarski. “But we’ve reached a critical mass here. There’s a kind of stickiness. This is the right place at the right time. It’s like nowhere else in the world.”

The three, who will all continue to teach at the U of A, aren’t just excited about the prospect of DeepMind research here. They’re thrilled some of their best former students are coming back to Edmonton to work for DeepMind. And they’re excited at the prospect of using the DeepMind partnership to recruit more top students.

“A lot of our graduates are dying for a chance to use their education in Edmonton,” said Bowling. “We’re hoping this is a catalyst for more of a tech build-up in Edmonton.”

The province hopes so, too. Over the last 15 years, the Alberta government has invested $40 million in AI and machine learning research, mostly at the U of A. (That steady funding, in fact, was what lured Sutton and Bowling here in the first place.)

It was a gamble by the Klein government — and every Alberta government since — that may now be paying off.

“We want a place at the global table, and AI can do that for us,” said Laura Kilcrease, CEO of Alberta Innovates, which provided the funding. “Where Google goes, others follow.”

DeepMind Alberta is only employing a handful of people now, she said. But she believes AI research in Edmonton “may end up sparking a group of start-ups in areas we haven’t even thought of yet.”