DeepMind Confirms Closure of AI Research Office in Edmonton – Edmonton

An artificial intelligence lab, whose opening in Edmonton sparked excitement about the future of the AI ​​industry in Alberta’s capital, is set to close, according to a company spokesperson.

In 2017, Alphabet Group company DeepMind announced it was opening a research office in Edmonton, marking the company’s first time setting up shop outside the UK.

The Alberta operation was led by several University of Alberta professors and worked on what DeepMind described as “basic science research.”

READ MORE: A leading artificial intelligence company will open its first lab outside the UK in Edmonton

The news of the closure was first reported by Bloomberg tuesday. A company spokesperson confirmed the news in a statement to Global News on Tuesday afternoon.

“DeepMind has made the difficult decision to consolidate its Canadian offices and close the Edmonton office, while retaining its other Canadian locations in Montreal and Toronto, which are housed in Google’s offices,” the statement said. “Edmonton is the only international site directly managed by DeepMind (all others are in offices managed by Google) and (is) therefore much more resource-intensive to operate.

“Edmonton-based researchers have been offered the opportunity to relocate to another DeepMind office, such as DeepMind Montreal, based at Google’s Montreal office, which will continue to operate as normal.

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Edmonton is becoming a leader in artificial intelligence

The company spokesperson did not confirm when the Edmonton office will close or how many employees are expected to be affected by the development.

READ MORE: Spotify the latest tech company to announce layoffs by cutting 6% of its workforce

News of DeepMind’s office closure comes amid a recent wave of layoffs across the global tech sector. On Monday, music streaming service Spotify announced it was cutting 6% of its global workforce and other big companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google also recently announced tens of thousands of job cuts.

–With an Associated Press file

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