Edmonton could become a major centre for developing ways to use the artificial intelligence (AI) that will probably drive the world’s next industrial revolution, a top scientists in the field says.

“AI could be well thought of as the leading edge in the second industrial revolution; Edmonton is a leader in the science,” University of Alberta computer science professor Richard Sutton said Tuesday.

“Why can’t we be a player in AI applications?”

Sutton, who moved to the U of A in 2003 from AT&T Labs in New Jersey, is considered a pioneer in AI and reinforcement learning, which involves letting computers learn from experience and interacting with their environment.

He wrote a major textbook on the subject and was picked last year to be part of Google DeepMind in Edmonton, the company’s first research lab outside its London headquarters.

Read the full story at edmontonjournal.com.