News Summary

The Canadian federal government has awarded $9 million to the Alberta Institute for Machine Intelligence (Amii) over three years to train nearly 5,000 mid-career energy sector workers in AI skills. This initiative, part of the AI Pathways: Energizing Canada’s Low-Carbon Workforce project, aims to enhance workers’ abilities in clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal, and hydrogen. The funds are from the Sustainable Jobs Training Fund, under Employment and Social Development Canada, with a total of $75 million dispersed to various organizations. The training, in collaboration with the University of Alberta and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, will be conducted both in-person and online. Federal leaders, including AI Minister Evan Solomon and Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu, emphasized the urgency of equipping workers with AI tools to remain competitive, especially in light of Canada’s rising unemployment rate and economic challenges. Amii, a non-profit and one of Canada’s three national AI institutes, continues to support AI research and commercialization as part of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.