TORONTO, Jan. 18, 2017 /CNW/ - Following recent investments in
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, RBC today announced Dr. Richard S. Sutton, one of
the modern day pioneers of AI, as head academic advisor to RBC Research in machine learning. RBC Research will establish a new lab
and plan to work with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), based at the University of
Alberta, to identify and pursue further research collaboration opportunities on an ongoing basis.
"We are thrilled to be opening a lab in Edmonton and to collaborate with world-class scientists
like Dr. Sutton and the other researchers at Amii," said Dr. Foteini Agrafioti, head of RBC
Research. "RBC Research has built strong capabilities in deep-learning, and with this expansion, we are well poised to play a major
role in advancing research in AI and impact the future of banking."
Dr. Sutton is widely recognized for his work in reinforcement learning, an area of machine learning that focuses on making
predictions without historical data or explicit examples. Reinforcement learning techniques have been shown to be particularly
powerful in determining ideal behaviours in complex environments. Most recently, the techniques were used to secure a first-ever
victory over a human world-champion in the game of Go, as well as recent applications in robotics and self-driving cars.
"The collaboration between RBC Research and Amii will help support the development of an AI ecosystem in Canada that will push the boundaries of academic knowledge," said Dr. Sutton. "With RBC's continued support,
we will cultivate the next generation of computer scientists who will develop innovative solutions to the toughest challenges
facing Canada and beyond. We've only scratched the surface of what reinforcement learning can do
in finance and are excited to unleash even greater possibilities with this collaboration between RBC Research and Amii."
"RBC is committed to helping build Canada's digital future and our significant investments in
AI represent part of that commitment," said Gabriel Woo, vice-president of innovation at RBC. "We
believe AI has the potential to bring about major improvements in areas such as client service, fraud prevention and risk
management; advancements that will have far-reaching benefits in financial services and beyond. Partnering with a leading
institution like the University of Alberta is an important step forward as we continue to explore this
emerging technology."
RBC Research is also collaborating with the University of Alberta to provide opportunities like
internships, academic collaborations and exchanges with the Toronto-based research team to
students and researchers. Dr. Eirene Seiradaki, academic partnerships lead at RBC, will be the key
contact between RBC Research and professors, researchers and students interested in using machine learning to drive innovation in
banking. With almost 20 years of experience in academics, Dr. Seiradaki joined RBC in 2016 and brings a strong commitment to
fostering innovation and supporting the academic community.
RBC recently announced two additional initiatives in collaboration with the University of Toronto,
ensuring Canada remains a leading centre of development in machine learning and AI.
About RBC Research
RBC Research supports RBC's innovation strategy through fundamental scientific study and exploration in machine learning
theory and applications. The team aims to develop state-of-the-art in financial technologies and supports open academic
collaborations with world-class research centres in artificial intelligence. For more information, please visit rbcresearch.com.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one
of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's
leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance,
investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees
who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 36 other countries. For more information, please visit http://www.rbc.com/.
RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and
employee volunteer activities. For more information please see: http://www.rbc.com/community-sustainability/.
About Amii
Amii, the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, conducts leading-edge research in the fields of artificial intelligence
and machine learning, together called machine intelligence. Funded by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade at the
Government of Alberta and based out of the Department of Computing Science in the Faculty of
Science at the University of Alberta, Amii's eleven researchers push the bounds of academic knowledge
and forge collaborations both locally and internationally to develop innovative, adaptive solutions for some of the toughest
challenges facing Alberta and beyond. For more information, please visit http://www.amii.ca/.
SOURCE RBC
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