Montreal to open downtown AI hub to monitor construction

The city of Montreal is building an artificial intelligence (AI) hub downtown for “urban innovation” and “testing solutions” to city issues like construction site management and mobility.

According to a news release, the laboratory will be in the heart of Ville-Marie, delineated by Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Sherbrooke, Guy, and de la Commune streets.

The idea is to come up with solutions to minimize the impact of construction work on residents, businesses and motorists, largely through AI.

Researchers hired by the city will work on integrating planning and simulation of construction scenarios, improving safety and accessibility around sites and real-time monitoring and adaptation of ongoing construction.

A “digital twin” – a virtual replica of a physical object or system – is in the works to do so.

The city says it also wants to gather ideas from Montreal start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses. Technology company executives will also form an advisory committee to oversee the use of AI and advise the city.

In its new release, the city says it will make “strategic choices” in relation to AI and “evaluate international best practices, improve proposed approaches, and rigorously monitor risks related to governance, ethics, and digital sovereignty.”

During the fall election, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada promised to make the downtown core more accessible to drivers.

“When one of the symbols of our city is the orange cone, we have a duty to change that,” she said in a release. “We need to develop new solutions so that people can finally get around Montreal.”

City councillor Alexandre Teodoresco added that the city already has a “collaborative ecosystem” that brings together construction site scheduling and paints a picture of obstacles sites are facing.

He said while AI “doesn’t solve everything at once,” it has “immense potential.”