Prof. Yoshua Bengio

Title: Deep Learning of High-Level Representations


Abstract: 

A central goal of deep learning is to learn a hierarchy of good representation. What is a good representation 
and what kind of representations should we find at the top level of this hierarchy? We propose to take clues from human intelligence to explore inductive biases (i.e., priors about the solution to this question) in order to make deep learning system discover the kind of abstract concepts which humans manipulate consciously and with language.


Biography: 

Recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence (AI), Yoshua Bengio is a pioneer in deep learning. He began his education in Montreal, where he earned his Ph.D. in computer science from McGill University, then completed his postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Since 1993, he has been a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operational Research at the Université de Montréal. In 2000, he became the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Statistical Learning Algorithms. At the same time, he founded and became scientific director of Mila, the Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence, which is the world’s largest university-based research group in deep learning. Lastly, he is also the Scientific Director of IVADO.

His research contributions have been undeniable. In 2018, Yoshua Bengio collected the largest number of new citations in the world for a computer scientist thanks to his three reference works and some 500 publications.

Professor Bengio aspires to discover the principles that lead to intelligence through learning, and his research has earned him multiple awards. In 2019, he earned the prestigious Killam Prize in computer science from the Canada Council for the Arts and was co-winner of the A.M. Turing Prize, considered the ‘Nobel of computer science’, which he received jointly with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a recipient of the IEEE CIS Neural Networks Pioneer Award, the Excellence Awards of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies 2019 and the Marie-Victorin prize and was named Scientist of the Year by Radio-Canada in 2017.
These honours reflect the profound influence of his work on the evolution of our society.

Concerned about the social impact of AI, he has actively contributed to the development of the Montreal Declaration for the Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence.


Notes Biographiques: 

Reconnu comme l’un des plus grands experts mondiaux en intelligence artificielle (IA), Yoshua Bengio est un pionnier de l’apprentissage profond. Il a commencé ses études à Montréal, où il a obtenu son doctorat en informatique de l’Université McGill, puis a effectué des études postdoctorales au Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Depuis 1993, il œuvre à titre de professeur au Département d’informatique et de recherche opérationnelle (DIRO) de l’Université de Montréal. En 2000, il devient titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en algorithmes d’apprentissage statistique. Parallèlement, il fonde et assure la direction scientifique de Mila – Institut québécois d’intelligence artificielle, le plus important groupe universitaire de recherche en apprentissage profond au monde. Il cumule également la fonction de
directeur scientifique d’IVADO.

Sa contribution en recherche est indéniable. En 2018, Yoshua Bengio est l’informaticien qui a recueilli le plus grand nombre de nouvelles citations au monde, grâce à ses 3 ouvrages de référence et à ses quelque 500 publications.

Le professeur Bengio aspire à découvrir les principes qui mènent à l’intelligence grâce à l’apprentissage, et ses recherches lui ont valu plusieurs distinctions. En 2019, il est colauréat du prix A.M. Turing, considéré comme le « Nobel de l’informatique », qu’il reçoit conjointement avec Geoffrey Hinton et Yann LeCun. Il est également officier de l’Ordre du Canada, membre de la Société royale du Canada, récipiendaire du IEEE CIS Neural Networks Pioneer Award, du Prix Marie-Victorin en plus d’avoir été nommé Scientifique de l’année par Radio-Canada en 2017. Ces honneurs témoignent de
l’influence profonde de son travail sur l’évolution de notre société.

Préoccupé par les impacts sociaux de l’IA, il a contribué activement à l’élaboration de la Déclaration
de Montréal pour un développement responsable de l’intelligence artificielle.