Communitech

Richard Yim - The Battle of Tech for Social Good What is Tech for good? In this digital age, innovating for good needs to be more firmly and deeply fixed among all Canadian industries, companies and organizations. Richard Yim, CEO of Dehmine Robotics breaks down his experience in the battle of Tech for social good. truenorthwaterloo.com

Building on last year, our conversations at #TrueNorth19 will focus on how tech can be used for good. From last year's show, here's Marilyn Ma talking about the story of AI and how it's still being written. *The Leaders Prize, unveiled at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, will be awarded to a winning team solving a problem of global significance using artificial intelligence (AI). The detailed problem statement will be revealed at True North Conference 2019, with the winner declared one year later at the 2020 edition of the conference. https://truenorthwaterloo.com/

As tech companies grow and create wealth in their communities, how can we ensure that we mitigate any potential negative effects of that growth? This is a moderated discussion is about transit and transportation, housing and affordability, culture and fun, and community building. Participants from Waterloo Region government, arts communities, social services sectors, education, business and tech will chart a path toward managing economic growth with clear plan. Seize this opportunity to have your voice heard! Transit: Chris Plunkett, Emily Slofstra, Jacob Glick, Jonathan Dunlop, John Hill Places: Joe Mancini, Michael Litt, David Brisson, Berry Vrbanovic, Brandon Sloan Culture: Green Light Arts, Stephanie Soulis, Majdi Bou-Mayar, Isabel Cisterna, Helen Chimirri-Russell Community: Carl Cadogan, Shannon Weber, Jacqui Murphy, Jacqui Terry-Carrol, Catherine Bracy

As you read this, there’s a middle-aged white dude on a stage in front of a big screen somewhere, announcing the next product that’s going to change the world. (Spoiler: It won’t change the world for most people). Humanity is a glorious scatter plot of gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and life experience. So, let’s define the problem. Too often, when tech companies look out at the world to decide what they are going to disrupt next, they see it from the perspective of that guy on the stage. Most of humanity is left out. Almost all of it is left out. The good thing is that all of us are still here, ready to share our experiences and perspectives. Ready to make better tech. Ready to solve better problems. Make some room. The Honourable Bardish Chagger: Welcome Mary Pat Hinton: Go all in and commit SHAD Network: Deep Inclusion Panel - Moderated by Tim Jackson Michael Denham: Diversity - The best strategy for building world-class businesses Jeannette Stock and Taylor Bond: Taking Pride in Canadian Tech: LGBTQ+ Inclusion as a Global Opportunity Mallorie Brodie (T-Minus 5): Bringing Modern Tech to Traditional Industries The Honourable Bardish Chagger: Closing remarks

AI promises an exciting future. The upside is massive. It has the potential to help us solve the most obnoxious problems plaguing humanity. We could see giant leaps forward in medicine, manufacturing, transportation, biotech, agriculture, government, and on and on. No more crappy jobs. Maybe we’ll even get those flying cars we were promised. But we have concerns. It’s not killer robots that scare us, though that is terrifying. We’re afraid of AI nobody understands making life and death decisions for us. We’re afraid of economy-destroying, human value-displacing tech, controlled by a handful of people with all-too-human motives. We are afraid that, if there is a bug -- because there are always bugs -- we won’t be able patch it before it’s too late. Can we take a minute to talk this through? Welcome - John Kelleher Marylin Ma: The True Story of AI is Still Being Written Joseph Fung: Working Among the Machines Suzanne Gildert: Ultra-Human-Like Robots - Bringing Science Fiction to Life Ali Asaria: The Role of Human Workers in a Post Automation, Post AI World Marcel O'Gorman: AI Beyond Ethics Francois Gand: Unlocking Communication with AI Closing Remarks - John Kelleher