Toronto emerges as a major global artificial intelligence hub

Toronto has emerged as a major global hub for artificial intelligence, driven largely by the foundational research of Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton. After moving to the University of Toronto in the 1980s to focus on machine learning, Hinton helped foster an ecosystem that now attracts major technology firms including Google, Nvidia, Meta, and Microsoft.

According to an analysis by CBRE, Toronto currently ranks as the third-best market for tech talent globally, trailing only San Francisco and Seattle, and surpassing New York. The city’s strength is supported by academic institutions like the University of Toronto and research organizations such as the Vector Institute, which Hinton co-founded.

The AI sector is also attracting significant investment from non-tech industries. For example, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi recently announced an investment of nearly $300 million into an AI Center of Excellence in Toronto.