A commercial building that houses the offices of Quebec’s Artificial Intelligence Institute (MILA) in Montreal’s Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie borough was vandalized late Tuesday night. Montreal police (SPVM) says at 11:45 p.m., patrol officers discovered that the building on Saint-Urbain Street near Saint-Zotique Street had been defaced. “According to preliminary findings from the investigation, it appears that a group of about 10 individuals committed the crimes,” said Manuel Couture, a spokesperson with Montreal police. He added that a 25-year-old woman was arrested near the scene, and she is expected to meet with investigators later in the day. “According to initial findings, the windows of the building were smashed and numerous graffiti tags were sprayed on the walls,” said Couture. The investigation is ongoing. MILA founder, federal minister denounce violence Hours after the vandalism, MILA’s founder, Yoshua Bengio, denounced the violence at All In, a major conference on artificial intelligence in Montreal, where he and Evan Solomon, the federal Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, were due to announce new funding for research into the potential dangers of AI systems. “Violence is not the answer to these risks and fears, which I can understand,’ said Bengio at the summit on AI and technology. MILA said in a press release that its “core mission is to develop ethical, safe artificial intelligence that serves the public interest.” The company also clarified that it is focusing its efforts on key areas of research such as “managing societal risks, protecting privacy, and aligning AI with human security and social justice.” At the conference, Bengio said he had spent years examining the responsibilities of researchers, companies and governments, as increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems raise questions of ethics and security. “How can we ensure that ethics is at the heart of our decisions?” asked Bengio, adding that this was not necessarily easy against a backdrop of market competition and geopolitical pressures. Minister Solomon also condemned the acts of vandalism, describing them as unacceptable in a democracy and stating that researchers and students have the right to work in peace and safety. The statements by Bengio and Solomon come as the federal minister announced $150 million in funding for LoiZéro, a non-profit organization dedicated to research into AI safety, founded by Bengio and based at MILA. With files from The Canadian Press
