World Summit AI Canada 2025: Where the future of AI is forged

The world’s leading minds in artificial intelligence converged in Montreal this April for World Summit AI Canada 2025, reaffirming the city’s position as a global AI powerhouse. This seventh edition of the summit, held at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, brought together over 3,000 delegates from industry, academia and government to tackle the most pressing questions in AI: from responsible deployment and governance to the transformative potential of generative models and the future of human-AI collaboration.

Montreal’s reputation as a hub for AI innovation was front and center. “Montreal is one of the leading centres on artificial intelligence,” Magda Popeanu, City councillor declared, echoing the city’s deep ties to institutions like Mila and its vibrant startup ecosystem, which was on show with the exclusive announcement of four new AI companies setting up headquarters in the city. The summit’s theme, “Putting humanity at the heart of AI,” resonated throughout the packed agenda, which featured AI OGs such as Yoshua Bengio.

Leading with intention: The call for human-centric AI

A recurring message was the need for intentional, ethical leadership in AI development. Anne Nguyen, Chief AI Officer, Quebec Innovation Council set the tone: “If we want AI to serve people, not replace them, then we have to reserve the space for that. Let’s choose to lead, not just with intelligence, but intention.” 

This call for human-centric AI was echoed in sessions on responsible innovation, where Pamela Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer at TELUS Communications noted, “Trust has transformed from a nice to have, to a fundamental and social imperative.” She added, “Build from the inside. The most powerful tech in the world is in the hands of your employees and that shouldn’t scare you if you’re building a responsible innovation culture within your organisation.”

Dr Colleen Lyons, ethicist, gave a stark warning, referencing another one of the summit’s key speakers from Yale: “If we outsource our thinking to AI, we won’t have the Wendell Wallach’s of the world in the future and it would be an enormous loss.”

The pace of change: AI adoption and enterprise innovation

The summit’s agenda reflected the rapid pace of global AI adoption. According to recent data, the number of daily AI users worldwide is set to surge by 20% in 2025, exceeding 378 million people. This explosive growth is driven by businesses and individuals integrating AI-powered tools into everything from healthcare and manufacturing to retail and social media. In fact, generative AI usage among business leaders jumped from 55% to 75% in just the past year, signaling a shift from experimentation to meaningful adoption. 

Sessions on enterprise AI and technical deployment were particularly well-attended. “We need to move to a place where we can apply AI models in the real world,” urged Professor Raquel Urtasun, Founder & CEO at Waabi, and further challenged the audience to “push the envelope on what AI can do today.” Brad Stimpson, Director, Wireless Technology of Bell Canada summarized the challenge: “The big challenge is figuring out how to apply AI in smarter, more practical ways, making it intuitive, accessible and truly useful for our teams.”

The summit also spotlighted the hurdles enterprises face with generative AI. Durga Kota, Chief Technology Officer at Fujitsu North America, stated, “There are high expectations of GenAI to fuel unparalleled efficiency. But why is it so hard for enterprises to capitalize on this? He outlined the top challenges standing in enterprise’ progress: “Varieties and volume of data, capture of business know-how and integration into existing workforce, and trust and compliance.” He echoed Pamela’s earlier comment, saying, “Innovation moves at the speed of trust.” This sentiment was reinforced by the growing focus on AI governance, with new regulations like the EU AI Act influencing policy discussions in Canada and beyond.

Technical AI frontiers: From edge computing to agents

Technical tracks delved into the future of AI infrastructure, edge computing and model generalization. Jérémie Farret, CEO/CTO of Mind in a Box and an expert in data systems, highlighted a key trend: “By 2025, nearly 30% of global data will require real-time processing, driven by the growing importance of edge computing.” Meanwhile, Animesh Garg’s (of NVIDIA and Georgia Tech) session on algorithmic generalization emphasized the need for structure alongside data to build robust decision-making systems.

Diversity, inclusion and empowerment in tech

Diversity and inclusion were also central themes. Chandra Donelson, Author of The Data Detective and CDAO, United States Space Force inspired attendees with her vision: “I don’t want any little boy or girl to want to go into data and to be told they cannot do it. Don’t ask permission to be disruptive. Turn red tape into your runway and go for it.” Chandra later hosted a popular book signing for delegates. 

In a panel on intelligent learning and how AI is redefining education, Monika Lionaite, CEO, Chief Innovator & Founder of Openhack 2020 Australia talked about the opportunity for AI to democratise access to learning and skills. “We encourage people with different backgrounds, people that have never coded before, to actually try and use AI tools in very short times and see what kind of results you can come up with.” 

The human-AI synergy: Creativity and connection

Marketing leaders like Karine Courtemanche, Executive Vice President and President of the Media Group, Plus Company Canada, explored the synergy between AI and human creativity: “The future of marketing lies in the seamless synergy between AI and human creativity, led by the intelligence of Smart Personas. More than just tools, they are the foundation for a new era of connection, one that’s faster, more effective and deeply human.”

Fiona Tan, CTO of Wayfair outlined this from a consumer perspective: “Not all customers can describe what they want - but they’ll know it when they see it. That’s why Wayfair uses text-to-image GenAI to spark inspiration and help users visualize their dream space. AI isn’t replacing creativity - it’s enabling it.” 

Facing the big questions: Ethics, risk and the path forward

None of the sessions shied away from tough ethical questions, which were addressed repeatedly throughout the summit. “From your design, test to implementation you need to have AI ethics in mind. Is it fair to different ethnicities, is it reliable and delivering the same result every time? Is it accessible and inclusive? Private and secure? Transparent and accountable?” Helia Mohammadi, Chief AI & Precision Health Officer of Microsoft Canada asked the audience. Helia later went on to answer questions for over two hours after her session. 

Jason Snyder, Global Chief AI Officer, Momentum Worldwide stated in his powerful keynote, "The smarter AI gets, the less control we have over it. We're racing into an AI-powered future - but the faster we go, the less we understand. Are we building machines we can't manage?” He gave a clarion call for the leaders in the room: “We are drafting the rules while the machines are already running. Waiting on government won't save us. Businesses must lead. Consumers must demand control. The future of autonomy depends on it.”

Yoshua Bengio addressed the risks of advanced AI, warning, “The conditions for AI to do something harmful boil down to two things: intention and capability. Can we root out harmful intentions? I’ve been working on this with my team the last few years-building a safe, non-agentic, trustworthy scientist AI.” 

As the summit wrapped up, Wendell Wallach, Scholar/Author/Activist, applauded the audience for their commitment to AI for good. “Many companies are avoiding this or engaging in ethics-washing. Many have been engaged in legal bullying or the purchasing of legislatures to limit regulation that impacts their AI products. You [in the audience] are the on the leading edge of ethical, responsible AI. It’s been central to most talks here at WSAI.”

World Summit AI Canada 2025 made it clear: the future of AI is not just about smarter machines, but about building systems that are trustworthy, inclusive, and serve society. With global AI adoption at record highs and new governance frameworks on the horizon, the summit’s key message was unmistakable: AI’s next chapter must be written with humanity at its core.