The All In artificial intelligence conference in Montreal, in September, 2023. Investing in early-stage talent must be the cornerstone of Canada’s AI strategy.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

Liam Gill leads the capital program at the MaRS Discovery District.

Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, has spoken at length about how the adoption and proliferation of AI has created an opportunity comparable to the dawn of the internet in the 1990s.

Canada missed out on that technological revolution. Currently, seven of the top 10 companies in the United States are technology companies, with a combined worth of US$28.3-trillion. In Canada, only one of our top 10 companies is a technology company, and it is worth US$0.2-trillion.

The federal government appears determined to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. But Canada’s new AI strategy task force, launched last month, may already have a........

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