The Government of Canada has announced a $24 million investment to appoint and renew 42 Canada CIFAR AI Chairs, reinforcing its long-term strategy to strengthen artificial intelligence research and talent development across the country.
The funding expands the Canada CIFAR AI Chairs programme to a total of 143 positions, distributed across Canada’s three national AI institutes: the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), Mila, and the Vector Institute. The initiative is part of Canada’s broader national AI strategy aimed at building a globally competitive research ecosystem.
The announcement was made at the Upper Bound conference by Canada’s minister for technology and innovation, Evan Solomon. Officials emphasized that the programme supports senior researchers, graduate training, and cross-institution collaboration across fields such as healthcare, biotechnology, sustainable energy, and AI safety.
Launched in 2017, the CIFAR AI Chairs programme is designed to provide stable, long-term funding for academic research positions, enabling scientists to pursue foundational AI research and train the next generation of specialists. Unlike short-term industry projects, the chairs focus on sustained research output, open scientific collaboration, and talent development.
Government and CIFAR representatives highlighted increasing global competition for AI talent, noting that sustained public investment is essential to maintaining research leadership. The initiative is also expected to strengthen Canada’s position in high-impact AI research, which includes work spanning applied machine learning, ethics, and large-scale computational systems.
The programme is widely seen as a key pillar in Canada’s AI ecosystem, linking universities, research institutes, and industry partners to accelerate innovation while ensuring long-term scientific capacity building.
