“It’s really important that we get youth involved in understanding and being aware of all the conversations around machine learning.”
-Ryan Alizadeh ’20, student organizer
In October 2019, nearly 100 students from schools across the GTA gathered at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto to take part in Creative Destruction Lab’s Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence conference. Attendees are leaders in the industries of robotics and artificial intelligence, and travel all over the world for this exclusive opportunity to hear about cutting-edge technologies and their implications for our future. Thanks to the generosity of Creative Destruction Lab and the hard work of UTS students and staff, this group of high school students were able to watch a livestream of the sold-out conference, take part in workshops, and visit the Demo Pit to explore real-world applications of machine learning.
It’s important that youth are involved in new technologies that are emerging right now.
-Ivan Kwong ’20, student organizer
Ajay Agrawal P’23, the Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School, discussed the concentration of power through information throughout human history, and what this means for access to information. Increasingly, he pointed out, technology concentrates power. How do we lay the foundation so that information is able to benefit society more broadly instead?
Another highlight was a workshop in networking led by Rotman School of Business Director, Career Services Rocco Morra, to prepare students for their visit to the Demo Pit, which is where Founders from 30 different Creative Destruction Lab ventures display and demonstrate their products.
Students also had the unique opportunity to hear Alibaba Group President Mike Evans speak about fascinating details about the sheer scope of data information organizations are now able to collect and mine.
It’s so great to be in a community where everyone is really interested and pushing the boundaries of school.
-Amelia Aggrawal ’23, student organizer
