ɬÀï·¬

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the world. These ɬÀï·¬ experts can comment on a wide range of topics related to AI.

Climate, energy and water

François Bouffard, Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, can comment on the impacts on electricity prices, possible impacts on grid reliability, the increased pressures on electricity network asset supply chains and the material and energy needs related to the reallocation toward data centres of resources earmarked for decarbonation.
francois.bouffard [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Amy Janzwood, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Bieler School of Environment, can comment on AI and climate change.
Amy.janzwood [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Jennifer Raso, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, can comment AI’s climate/energy/water impacts.
Jennifer.raso [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

The labour market and the future of work

Simon Blanchette, Faculty Lecturer, Desautels Faculty of Management, can comment on AI and labour market trends including jobs (destruction and displacement); AI and the future of work, future skills, upskilling, reskilling; AI competency framework; small and medium businesses and AI implementation/adoption.
simon.blanchette [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Jennifer Raso, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, can comment on AI and labour (its effects on workers and on relations between workers and employers). She can also speak about AI and the goals of downsizing or seeking efficiency and outsourcing of all aspects of government.
Jennifer.raso [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Children: In the classroom and at home

Simon Blanchette, Faculty Lecturer, Desautels Faculty of Management, can comment on AI’s impact on education and in the classroom.
simon.blanchette [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Adam Dubé, Associate Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, Director of the Faculty of Education’s , can comment on generative AI in education (K–12 and higher education), the impacts of AI and chatbots on student learning, assessment and academic integrity; children’s and adults’ understanding and use of AI tools for learning; how people think AI thinks and the impact this has on our daily lives; educational technologies and game-based learning, including AI-driven tools; and digital equity, access and the impact of AI on schooling.
adam.dube [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Sara Grimes, Professor, Department of Art History and Communication Studies and Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy, can comment on AI and children, AI in the home, AI’s impact on children's creativity and creative literacies, AI in digital games, children's and youth's parasocial relationships with AI, ethical and responsible AI within the context of children and youth. She can also speak to emerging age bans restricting children (and some teens) from using AI apps and technologies and the implications this might have for children's literacies, rights and well-being, and age-based algorithmic discrimination.
sara.grimes [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Joseph Levitan, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education and Associate Dean, Academic Programs in the Faculty of Education, can comment on teachers’ use of AI in the classroom, the use of AI to generate learning resources and ethical concerns with AI.
joseph.levitan [at] mcgill.ca (English, Spanish)

Economics, ethics and equity 

Simon Blanchette, Faculty Lecturer, Desautels Faculty of Management can comment AI, ethics and EDI/DEI; AI regulations, guardrails, as well as leadership.
simon.blanchette [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Warut Khern-am-nuai is Associate Professor, Desautels Faculty of Management, FRQ-IVADO Chair in Economics and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Co-Director, Retail Innovation Lab, and Director, Managing Disruption: Analytics, Advanced Digital Technologies, and AI Initiative (AAAI), which aims to promote and support academic research and industry and community engagements related to artificial intelligence, analytics and advanced digital technologies such as blockchain, Internet of things (IoT) and metaverse. He can comment on the economics and ethics of AI.
warut.khern-am-nuai [at] mcgill.ca (English, Thai)

Jennifer Raso, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, can comment on AI and its impact on marginalized communities (including women and disabled, racialized, poor and queer people) given the uneven functionality of tools like facial recognition technologies or the generative AI voice-to-text tools now being used in medical offices.
Jennifer.raso [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

, post-doctoral researcher in the School of Computer Science, can speak about ethical considerations around AI deployment, including transparency, accountability and human-AI interaction. She can also speak about the societal and policy implications of emerging AI technologies, including regulation, governance and responsible innovation.
shalaleh.rismani [at] gmail.com (English, Farsi and Turkish)

Renee Sieber, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Bieler School of Environment, can comment on AI ethics and responsible AI.
renee.sieber [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Ma’n H. Zawati is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and an Associate Member in the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Faculty of Law. He can speak about responsible AI development, including how to make systems more transparent, and what ethical and legal safeguards are needed. man.zawati [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Use of AI by government, policymakers and legal systems

Ali Ekber Cinar, doctoral candidate, Faculty of Law, specializes in law and technology and can speak to the challenges that AI poses to the legal system.
ali.cinar [at] mail.mcgill.ca (English, French)

Jennifer Raso, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law can comment on Generative AI and its use in government at all levels, federal, provincial and municipal, (including by front-line police, public transit authorities, civil servants, policymakers, tribunals and courts). She can comment on the use of AI and the administration or delivery of a range of government programs such as tax, welfare and disability benefits, immigration and border security, as well as digitalization of application processes such as SAAQclic. She can also speak about AI regulation.
jennifer.raso [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Renee Sieber, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Bieler School of Environment can comment on AI policy in the federal government.
renee.sieber [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Mental health and youth

Vincent Paquin, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, can comment on the impacts of AI chatbots on youth mental health, including why young people confide in chatbots, how young people use chatbots to obtain psychological and social support, what the risks are, and what can be done to reduce this behaviour.
vincent.paquin2 [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Natural vs. artificial intelligence

Blake Richards is Associate Professor, School of Computer Science and Montreal Neurological Institute. His research is at the intersection of neuroscience and AI. His laboratory investigates the universal principles of intelligence that apply to both natural and artificial agents. He can comment about the fundamentals of AI and natural intelligence, the relationship between our brains and AI, AI applications for neuroscience, the nature of the mind, consciousness and how it relates to AI.
blake.richards [at] mcgill.ca (English; French for print only)

Health care

Jun Ding, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, can comment on how AI is reshaping health research, including how machine-learning and deep-learning tools help scientists study diseases and how they support efforts to detect illness earlier and personalize treatment.
jun.ding [at] mcgill.ca (English, Mandarin Chinese)

Samira A.Rahimi, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences and Co-Director, ɬÀ﷬’s Collaborative for AI and Society, can discuss the use of AI in primary health care, ethical and responsible AI and AI-driven tools to support vulnerable populations, including older adults.
samira.rahimi [at] mcgill.ca (English, Farsi, Azeri)

Vanessa Rampton, Affiliate Member, Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy, can comment on the social and historical dimensions of AI in health and medicine, including how these technologies shape patient care and what their broader impacts are on social progress.
vanessa.rampton [at] mcgill.ca (English, French, German, Italian, Russian)

James Tsui, MD, Assistant Professor, Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, can discuss the use of AI in cancer care and the ethical considerations involved, as well as emerging technologies that connect hospitals and support clinical workflows.
james.tsui [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Technical risks of AI use

, post-doctoral researcher in the School of Computer Science, can speak about the potential risks and harms associated with AI systems, such as the loss of information, or allocative harm (unjust distribution of resources), and current approaches to evaluate, reduce or mitigate them. She can also comment on how AI systems actually work in day-to-day applications, and what their capabilities and limitations are. She also has expertise in how to evaluate AI systems in real-world contexts and why context matters for assessing safety and performance.
shalaleh.rismani [at] gmail.com (English, Farsi and Turkish)