Each Solution Network will receive $700,000 over two years to design, develop and implement AI safety solutions to pressing challenges.

Reposted with permission from CIFAR and written by Justine Brooks. See .

CIFAR has launched its first two AI safety Solution Networks under the . The two research teams –  and  (the latter co-funded by the IDRC) – will spend the next two years developing and implementing open-source AI solutions to make AI safer and more inclusive for Canadians and the Global South. Each network is awarded $700,000 to support their groundbreaking research and development.

The Solution Networks are funded through the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR, an independent, multidisciplinary research arm led by CIFAR. The dedicated research program is a core component of the Government of Canada’s Canadian AI Safety Institute, launched in November 2024 with a $50 million investment to address the evolving risks of AI to Canadians.

“AI safety is crucial as the technology becomes more deeply embedded in how we live and work. At its core, it’s about two things — building trust and developing the tools to uphold it,” says the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. “Trust that AI will be used responsibly, and tools that make it safer, fairer, and more transparent. These new Solution Networks show how Canadian researchers are advancing the science of safety itself — turning ideas into real solutions that make AI work for people.”

“CIFAR’s Solution Networks provide a unique approach to trustworthy AI research and development, bringing together exceptional teams of interdisciplinary researchers – who might not otherwise cross paths – to address issues of global importance, but more importantly, to design, develop and implement solutions,” says Elissa Strome, Executive Director, Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at CIFAR. “Core to the work of both of these Solution Networks is exploring ways to mitigate the potential harms of AI to people in Canada and around the world.”

Solution Network Members

• , Solution Network Co-director (University of Toronto)
• , Solution Network Co-director (University of Waterloo, Osgoode Hall Law School (91��ɫ), Vector Institute)
• , Solution Network Member (University of Ottawa)
• , Solution Network Member (Western University) 
• , Solution Network Member (University of British Columbia, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Vector Institute) 
• , Solution Network Member (University of Waterloo) 

Co-directed by Ebrahim Bagheri and Maura R. Grossman, this Solution Network aims to address the rising prevalence of synthetic AI-generated content in the justice system. This includes fake image or video evidence generated by people using AI tools, but also court documents that are created using large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT that may produce hallucinations.

“The issue now is that you can do this at scale and at convenience,” Bagheri says. Previously, one would have to spend large amounts of time and money to forge evidence. Now, evidence can be doctored quickly and easily, and even fabricated entirely from scratch.

The stakes are incredibly high, says Grossman. “Somebody can go to jail or not go to jail depending on whether something is a real or fake video.”

Somebody can go to jail or not go to jail depending on whether something is a real or fake video
Maura R. Grossman, 91��ɫ adjunct professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, CIFAR Solution Network Co-director

It’s not always financially feasible to bring in an expert who can evaluate the provenance of AI-generated content or evidence. The team proposes to develop a free, open-source framework that anyone within the court system can use to identify potentially problematic content. 

“We need a [transparent] tool that knows when it’s not sure about its output. One that is user friendly for this very unique group of users including both self-represented litigants and officers in the court system,” adds Grossman. 

Their solution could have a huge impact on the efficiency and trustworthiness of a justice system that is facing a great amount of change in a short period of time. “Even if our solution isn’t perfect, even if it gets 50, 60 or 70 percent of the way to be able to rule out [synthetic content], then we’ve really come a long way for the court system.”

Solution Network Members

• , Solution Network Co-director (91��ɫ, Vector Institute)
• , Solution Network Co-director (Brock University)
• , Solution Network Member (University of Waterloo, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Vector Institute) 
• , Solution Network Member (University of Nigeria)
• , Solution Network Member (University of Nigeria)
• , Solution Network Member (University of Ibadan)

The use of LLMs like ChatGPT has exploded in recent years, but for speakers of non-standard English, these tools are not as safe or effective as they are for others. This is the problem Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari and Blessing Ogbuokiri are working to address. 

Their Solution Network focuses on Nigerian Pidgin English, a language spoken by over 140 million people, primarily in West Africa. LLMs trained on standard English often misinterpret marginalized dialects like Pidgin as toxic or offensive and penalize the user. This can lead to very real harms like censorship on social media and discrimination in service-delivery systems. 

I think what makes our solution unique is that it is locally rooted and culturally representative of citizens of African countries
Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari, 91��ɫ assistant professor, Lassonde School of Engineering, CIFAR Solution Network Co-director

The team will work to create the first ever bias and safety benchmarks for Pidgin English as part of an open-source audit and mitigation toolkit. These resources will be available for developers and policymakers to use to ensure AI systems are fair and safe for all users. “We are trying to create an AI system where marginalized voices can feel comfortable using these tools because it will accommodate them,” adds Ogbuokiri. 

The team will work with a citizen network in Nigeria, who will help to evaluate the data sets and LLMs used in the project. “I think what makes our solution unique is that it is locally rooted and culturally representative of citizens of African countries,” explains Seyyed-Kalantari. 

The team also has a policymaking objective, adds Seyyed-Kalantari. “We want to ensure that the research that we are developing […] brings actual positive changes for people who are using these LLMs in Africa.”

Ogbuokiri notes the impact this project could have beyond West Africa for immigrant and Indigenous communities in Canada who also use non-standard English varieties. “This will serve as a vital public resource for researchers, developers and policymakers,” he states. “This project will contribute to locally-grounded and culturally-relevant AI systems that reflect the realities of the Global South.”

About the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR

The CAISI Research Program at CIFAR is a component of the , launched by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.  is the scientific engine of a broad national effort that aims to promote the safe and responsible development and deployment of AI. The research program is independently leading Canadian, multidisciplinary research to find solutions to complex AI safety challenges and develop practical tools for responsible AI so that AI is safe for all Canadians.

The post CIFAR launches new AI safety Networks to address synthetic evidence in the legal system and linguistic inequality appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, April 3, 2023 – Three 91��ɫ professors join other big thinkers as part of two new programs launching today at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research () to delve into pressing and challenging questions facing humanity now and into the future.

91��ɫ Faculty of Science Professor Hélène Mialet of the Department of Science Technology and Society is Principal Investigator and co-director leading CIFAR’s new Future Flourishing program of which 91��ɫ Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Professor of the Department of Philosophy was named a new Fellow. 91��ɫ Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Professor was named a Fellow of CIFAR’s Humanity's Urban Future program.

is one of three new programs announced today that won CIFAR’s The Future of Being Human competition, which called for ideas and proposals looking at the long-term intersection of humans, science and technology, social and cultural systems, and the environment.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for 91��ɫ researchers to apply their knowledge and expertise toward answering some of humanity’s most urgent questions and to make a difference in the world. It is not only a testament to the talent and expertise of our researchers but speaks to the forward-thinking research that takes place every day at 91��ɫ,” says 91��ɫ Vice-President Research & Innovation Amir Asif. “My congratulations to Professors Hélène Mialet, Kristin Andrews and Roger Keil for pioneering new research and ideas on the impact of technology on society and our urban future.”

A Canadian-based global research organization, CIFAR convenes extraordinary minds to address the most important questions facing science and humanity.

Mialet, as co-director of the Future Flourishing Program with Tarek Elhaik, University of California, Davis, and Christopher Kelty, University of California, Los Angeles, has assembled a network of 16 exceptional scholars and practitioners, including philosophers, historians, curators, conservators, artists and anthropologists from around the world to participate in the program.

Her longstanding research aims to set out an innovative methodological and empirical trajectory for the study of the human as a distributed centred-subject. This work has been foundational to the inception of the Future Flourishing program, which will explore how human exceptionalism can be reconfigured by extending the boundary and definition of the human to the living and non-living beings that make us who we are.

As a new Fellow in the program, Andrews, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Philosophy of Animal Minds, will bring empirical and theoretical expertise to questions about the similarities and differences between humans and non-human animals, their cognitive, affective, social, and cultural capacities. She developed novel frameworks for social and normative cognition that can be used to investigate these capacities in other animals.

“The fundamental question at the core of the Future Flourishing program,” explains Mialet, “is how can we live well without human exceptionalism. How can we live well and flourish with those upon whom we depend or with whom we share a common world? The establishment of a new definition of the human will have tremendous implications for how we think about and ‘do’ politics, ethics, knowledge and morality.” In addition, she points out that “this is an important award for 91��ɫ. It has the potential to make profound change in how we engage with our complex world.”

program will explore the question – what is a good city of the future? Keil is an expert in global sub/urbanization with a particular interest in the urbanization of nature and the relationships of cities and infectious disease. He currently leads an Urban Studies Foundation sponsored project, City after COVID-19: Vulnerability and urban governance in Chicago, Toronto and Johannesburg.

He says Toronto will be one of the six cities around the world that the group, led by Simon Goldhill of Cambridge University and Diane Davis of Harvard University, will study.

“This is significant as Toronto will be scrutinized as one of the places where humanity's urban future takes shape,” says Keil. He considers becoming a Fellow a “great honour”. He further notes that 91��ɫ's exemplary track record in hosting large, multi-site and interdisciplinary research programs at its City Institute and the purposeful recent creation of a Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, provided excellent conditions for the work that lies ahead as he seeks to contribute to thinking about future urban life on this planet.

Successful programs were required to submit bold, new ideas that have the potential to be transformative in tackling complex questions affecting the world. Mialet, Andrews and Keil join a community of Fellows, Nobel laureates and some 400 researchers from around the globe. Each newly establish research program is interdisciplinary and collaborative.

PHOTOS: Hélène Mialet, Kristin Andrews, and Roger Keil

For more information, watch the following CIFAR videos:

Humanity’s Urban Future -

Future Flourishing -

The post Big thinkers - three 91��ɫ professors join ranks of CIFAR appeared first on News@91��ɫ.