Overcome the fear of messing up: Durham College AI Hub course for executives helps address barriers to businesses adopting AI Posted on September 25, 2024 at 11:53 am. When it comes to adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), businesses have two fears: missing out and messing up. To tackle that second fear—messing up— and ensure that businesses don’t miss out on the transformative power of AI, Durham College’s AI Hub has partnered with the Council of Canadian Innovators to launch the AI Guide Program. The innovative program is a six-week intensive executive development program for non-technical professionals in Canada’s business and innovation sectors, including leaders in HR, sales, operations and public affairs. “One of the things that was coming up again and again with companies and individuals was this trepidation around adopting AI in a responsible way,” explains AI Hub Senior Manager Natalie Arthurs. “These sticky issues of governance, responsible AI ethics, how data is being used, those are the issues that a lot of non-technical leaders and executives grapple with and it’s creating an impediment to moving forward with AI.” Dr. Priyamvada Tripathi, a DC faculty member who teaches AI and data analytics, is the lead instructor for the program. She explains the 90-minute online sessions will feature a series of industry guest speakers who will bring practical scenarios to the table. “We’re getting real-world perspectives and the guest speakers have the experience of how AI is being implemented, what are the road blocks to adoption and how to balance all the concerns about AI with innovation,” said Tripathi. That means the course will focus on practicalities and business concerns like key performance indicators and value generation. “How do you balance all that, how do you remain ethical while not losing out on the race to adopt AI,” she said. “Especially for us Canadians, how do we stay competitive while maintaining our core values?” The program targets non-technical leaders because in many cases they are the people making overarching decisions for businesses. “We’re helping address the fear of messing up component here by giving people that literacy, by giving them hands-on, real-world case studies and session leaders who have been there, done that,” Arthurs adds. The AI Guide Program runs between October 23 and November 27. Registration closes October 7. MRC Studio, AI Hub make a splash at virtual reality conference Posted on August 21, 2024 at 1:00 pm. Durham College (DC) students and employees showed off their applied research work at the VRTO Spatial Media World Conference & Expo in July, displaying their talent and ingenuity and making connections in the tech industry. Representing DC’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE), the MRC Studio and AI Hub attended the conference to showcase their latest breakthroughs. A team of work-study students showed off a mixed reality demo using the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality (VR) headset. By scanning real world objects and digitizing them for manipulation in 3D space, the demo allows users to pick up and examine items within an augmented reality. The mixed reality demo was prepared by Game – Art students Joshua Vandergeer, Alexis Mantler and Nathan Lang and Computer Programming and Analysis students Connor Vandergeer and Manu Sugunakumar. The experience of showing off their own work while rubbing shoulders with accomplished industry veterans was a highlight for the students, according to Connor Vandergeer. “It felt really rewarding to be a part of the community,” he said. “Speaking to professionals, seeing what they think and how impressed they were and just enjoying the demo, it was a really great experience.” The applications for the demo are practically limitless according to Jason Hunter, Manager of the MRC Studio. “A lot of people still relate VR to entertainment and games only, but there’s a lot of applications within other industries that the hardware and software can be used for,” he said. “We have a lot of industry partners who want to find ways to do digital twinning, either of spaces or of objects, particularly for training and simulation.” For example, an industrial company could use the technology to train new employees on heavy machinery, remotely and with no risk to their safety. A second demo, developed by Game – Art student James Gleeson, used a Looking Glass display and Unreal Engine to create holographic 3D models that could be turned and rotated manually. Both demos wowed the crowd, according to Hunter. “There were a lot of smiling faces and minds blown,” he said. “It’s really satisfying to see that we could still impress people who have been working within the field for a long time. That’s really gratifying for the students.” Working with the MRC Studio over the summer has been an invaluable experience for them. “It’s a great opportunity for students to start getting industry experience within their field, and it’s a great place to test what you’re learning,” said Joshua Vandergeer. Students weren’t the only ones making us #DCProud at the event. MRC Principal Investigator Harrison Forsyth was invited as a guest speaker to discuss his recent work digitizing real world objects and environments for virtual applications. “It was a great pleasure to speak at the event on behalf of Durham College,” said Forsyth. “Most importantly, the teams from the MRC Studio and AI Hub got an opportunity to engage with leaders in the extended reality community. This was a huge win for our teams and I am certainly very proud of the work we do.”
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