The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) has secured a $5 million grant from Google.org to support post-secondary educators in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into existing coursework.
The funding will help create a nationwide consortium of 25 Canadian institutions aimed at developing accessible AI curriculum materials for undergraduate students across a wide range of disciplines.
Targeting AI literacy beyond computer science
Rather than focus solely on computer science, the initiative will emphasize expanding AI understanding across non-technical disciplines. “The ability to get that into more non-CS areas is something that we think is super important,” said Amii CEO Cam Linke. The goal is to boost AI literacy among the broader student population and prepare a more future-ready workforce.
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Addressing Canada’s AI adoption gap
Despite Canada’s strong leadership in AI research, actual adoption by Canadian organizations remains low. According to a recent Deloitte report, only 26% of Canadian companies have adopted AI technologies, trailing the global average of 34%. Sabrina Geremia, VP and Managing Director of Google Canada, said this initiative is about “putting the skills to use AI tools into the hands of the future builders.”
Expanding Amii’s AI footprint
Founded in 2002, Amii is a non-profit dedicated to advancing machine intelligence and translating research into practical applications. The new initiative follows a previous $1.1 million grant from Google to Amii in support of a project bringing modular water treatment systems to underserved Canadian regions through reinforcement learning.
The newly announced program aims to reach 125,000 students nationwide and marks a significant step toward closing the skills gap in Canada’s emerging AI economy.
