In this episode of Techopia Live, OBJ publisher Michael Curran interviews Brian Kells, a corporate and securities lawyer from Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall, discussing the role of AI in the tech sector and its legal ramifications.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

TECHOPIA: Brian, can you share a little bit about yourself and what you do at Perley?

KELLS: I'm a lawyer at Perley-Robertson, practicing a broad range of corporate, and commercial securities laws, all different areas of law that are important to businesses in the Ottawa area. I've been practicing for about eight years now at Perley, and we're the largest independent firm in Ottawa. We have lawyers offering full-service scenarios, including employment law, intellectual property, commercial litigation, and real estate. Essentially, if you're a business in the Ottawa area, we're able to assist you.

TECHOPIA: Brian, technology evolution flows in these big waves, these giant trends.  There's a current wave, you might even call it a tsunami, that's artificial intelligence. Given your experience in corporate law, any general thoughts on where we're at in terms of AI these days?

KELLS: Technology does go in waves, and this one in particular is pretty exciting. I think AI has the potential to be very transformative. Already, it's incredibly useful. You're able to go on ChatGPT or other AI providers, and already it's providing value to people and you're able to use it, but we're just at the start of it. I think ChatGPT 3.5, or whatever came out about a year and a half ago, and we know they're already working on more advanced models. If you look forward a little bit, what they're shooting for is artificial general intelligence. If that were to come about, then it's going to open up a whole new wave of opportunity for businesses.

TECHOPIA: Brian, give us the dos and don'ts of AI?

KELLS: Some of my dos might be a little bit on the cautious side as well, being a lawyer, but I'll just let you know some of the things I think about when I'm using it and when clients come to us for advice. One of the big things, and we've already advised a few clients on this, comes from the perspective of when you're partnering with an AI provider to help train their model. The way these artificial intelligence models work is that they rely on really large data sets that they turn through to train their model so that then they can work on it. Some of these companies have been approaching businesses that have data themselves to run the program on it and to train on it. Anytime you're talking about that, if you're a business that has a lot of data, you have to consider Canadian data privacy laws.

For example, if you're an existing company with a large volume of personal information, customer information, spending habits, etc., you might want to partner with an AI company, like Amazon, Apple, or OpenAI, to bring their model in-house and to look at all of your data and then see if it can have any insights in that. We just have to keep in mind Canadian data privacy laws. The principal one is the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, PIPEDA, which imposes several obligations on businesses that retain personal information and data. You have to make sure that what you're doing is going to comply with that.

TECHOPIA: Brian, what are some of the don'ts when you think of AI?

KELLS: One of the big don'ts involves copyright of data. As an example, let's consider the Ottawa Business Journal. It has 20, 30 or so years worth of articles that it has published. That might be really useful data for an artificial intelligence company to run its algorithm on it and to train on it. And as the owner, you would want to make sure that when you're handing that data over, you have the full rights to do that. What we're talking about really is the copyright that exists in some of those articles.

The legal dos and don’ts of AI | Episode 268

These are uncertain days for technology executives looking to secure venture capital. The sky-high valuations from the pandemic have tumbled and macroeconomic factors, ranging from high interest rates to runaway inflation, have cooled public and private investment markets.

This dramatic change in venture capital is captured in a recent report from BDC Capital. The report indicates the number of VC-backed deals in 2023 dropped by 13 per cent, when compared to the previous year. Worse yet, when measured in dollars, venture capital is down 34 per cent compared to 2022.

But it’s not all bad news in Canada’s tech sector. Many companies are pursuing deep tech ventures, including everything from artificial intelligence to quantum computing. This deep tech has big potential.

In this episode of Techopia Live, Ottawa Business Journal publisher Michael Curran speaks with Sumita Banerjee and Thomas Park of BDC to explore venture capital trends and what BDC is doing to foster deep tech ventures.

Techopia Live: What’s happening with venture capital? | Episode 269

If you study the history of the most successful tech centres in the United States ‒ think about places such as Silicon Valley, Boston and North Carolina ‒ that have a common element. In all these places, entrepreneurship and innovation were built on the foundations of universities and colleges.

This collaboration between the private sector and post-secondary institutions provides many advantages, including a pipeline for talent, research and development and a culture of entrepreneurship.

This same strategy is at work in Ottawa, especially in Kanata North, where the University of Ottawa recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of its west-end campus.

Over the five years, uOttawa has doubled the size of its campus in Kanata, struck more than 60 research and development collaborations and dramatically increased the number of co-op students working in the technology park.

In this episode of Techopia Live, Ottawa Business Journal publisher Michael Curran speaks with Sean Geddes, the director of innovation and partnership in Kanata North.

For more information about uOttawa, please visit https://obj.ca/company/uottawa/.

uOttawa’s growing presence in Kanata North | Episode 270

The biggest tech event of the year rolled into Ottawa on Nov. 13. SaaS North, a two-day conference, attracted hundreds of tech leaders from across Canada and beyond to hear from keynote speakers such as digital marketing legend Neil Patel, Tealbook founder Stephany Lapierre, Certn founder Andrew Mcleod and many others.

The conference, which is co-produced by L-Spark, delivered a “notoriously tactical agenda” and took a deep dive into SaaS sector. Hot topics included growth strategies, mergers and acquisitions activity, company valuations and the “disruptive tsunami” of artificial intelligence.

In this episode of Techopia Live, Ottawa Business Journal publisher Michael Curran visited SaaS North to speak with Susan Richards of numbercrunch and Nick Quain of Invest Ottawa. The wide-ranging discussion explored the impact of SaaS North conference on Ottawa, how the SaaS business model is holding up, and how SaaS players are rushing to embrace AI.

Are you an entrepreneur or business owner working in Ottawa's tech sector? If so, check out these resources from numbercrunch: https://www.numbercrunch.ca/resources/

Looking for more on Techopia?

Visit https://obj.ca/techopia for regular news updates on Ottawa’s technology sector.

You can also sign up for Techopia’s weekly email newsletter: https://obj121.activehosted.com/f/5

Techopia Live: On location at SaaS North 2024 | Episode 272

AI was front and centre at SaaS North 2024, which took over the Rogers Centre in Ottawa on Nov. 13-14. Attendees contemplated how AI is disrupting the tech sector, specifically how it’s enabling many SaaS companies to add functionality and experiment with new go-to-market strategies.

Techopia Live correspondent Riaz Sidi was on location at SaaS North, speaking with many high-profile attendees. His guests included Aydin Mirzaee of Fellow.app, Danielle Graham of The Firehood, local tech executive Sacha Gera, Kayla Isabelle of Startup Canada, Mark Stephenson of SaaS North, Priya Bhaloo of TagHR, Patrick White of L-Spark and Karine Bah Tahé of Oasis Learning AI.

This episode of Techopia Live is brought to you by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering. Learn more here: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-engineering/

Visit https://obj.ca/techopia for regular news updates on Ottawa’s technology sector.

You can also sign up for Techopia’s weekly email newsletter: https://obj121.activehosted.com/f/5

Techopia Live: AI disruption in focus at SaaS North | Episode 273

TiE Ottawa held its annual conference at Carleton University’s Richcraft Hall at Carleton University on Nov. 8.

Hundreds attended to explore the theme of “Disruptive Entrepreneurship: AI and Emerging Technologies.” The conference boasted an impressive line-up of speakers, including Mike Potter of Rewind, Peter O’Blenis of DistillerSR, John Findlay of LemonadeLXP, Kenton White of askpolly and many others. Invest Ottawa’s Sonya Shorey engaged in a fireside chat with Laura Fox of Streetlife Ventures, and futurist Michael Chase delivered a keynote dubbed “AI: Welcome to the Future.”

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe also presented the Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards.

Techopia Live correspondent Riaz Sidi was on location interviewing TiECON attendees. His guests included conference organizer Bharat Rhuda of TiE Ottawa, Manu Sharma of the Ottawa Community Foundation, John Nelson of Carleton University Innovation Hub and Jennifer Francis of SheBoot.

This episode of Techopia Live is brought to you by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering. Learn more here: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-engineering/

Visit https://obj.ca/techopia for regular news updates on Ottawa’s technology sector.

You can also sign up for Techopia’s weekly email newsletter: https://obj121.activehosted.com/f/5

TiECON 2024: Disruptive Entrepreneurship through AI and Emerging Technologies | Episode 274

One of our favorites, former Ravens TE and Super Bowl Champion Daniel Wilcox checked in with GCR Tuesday morning to catch up with Stan The Fan and Griffin as we continued breaking down Sunday's win over the Giants and looked ahead to the rest of the season with the Steelers on tap next, plus Dan's take on the Diontae Johnson situation and much, much more!

Dan Wilcox (December 17, 2024)

There is a global race to embrace AI. Countries and regions are making investments and mapping out strategies to accelerate AI adoption.

Amidst this flurry of activity, something more grassroots is happening in Ottawa. A volunteer-run organization called AI Tinkerers Ottawa, established in late 2023, has surged to 800 members.

This isn’t just a group of AI enthusiasts. On the contrary, only “high technical, active builders” are welcome at regular monthly meetings held at Bayview Yards.

In this episode of Techopia Live, OBJ publisher Michael Curran speaks with the co-founder of AI Tinkerers Ottawa, Hai Nghiem. Nghiem shares the backstory of the local group, what it's trying to achieve and also shares some early details on his own AI venture, Cats with Bats.

Techopia Live: Grassroots group tinkers with AI | Episode 275

Plantaform is beginning the new year with a bang. The Gatineau-based company, which aims to “revolutionize smart indoor gardening,” just kickstarted its U.S. expansion by exhibiting at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. At CES, Plantaform won three major awards, including Best of Innovation in the food and agritech category.

The company will also be featured in CBC’s Dragon’s Den in February, plus showcase its device at Costco locations, including some in the Ottawa area.

Founded in 2020, Plataform leveraged technology from NASA to build an egg-shaped consumer device suitable for kitchen countertops to grow fruits and vegetables using fog.

In this episode of Techopia Live, OBJ publisher Michael Curran speaks with Plantaform cofounder and CEO Alberto Aguilar about how 2025 might be a milestone year for the tech company.

Note: For local viewers and listeners, Plantaform will be Costco at these locations: Kanata (Jan. 21 to Feb. 2), Gloucester (Feb. 4-16) and Nepean (Feb. 18 to March 2).

Techopia Live: Plantaform bursting to life in 2025 | Episode 276

Every tech startup founder faces the same hurdle: funding. It's incredibly tough to grow a tech company when intense research and development come long before a paying customer. But what if there were a proven way to inject significant private capital into Ottawa's tech ecosystem?

A dedicated group of Ottawa business leaders, Canada Flow Through Shares, thinks they have the answer. 

They're pushing for a tax policy inspired by Canada's mining industry, which has successfully used flow-through shares for decades to raise hundreds of millions. This innovative approach allows investors to directly deduct qualifying company expenses, making tech startups a far more attractive investment.

In this episode of Techopia Live, Ottawa Business Journal publisher Michael Curran speaks with David Perry, the driving force behind Canada Flow Through Shares. David explains how this model has supercharged investment in other sectors and countries, and outlines the crucial next steps for getting this powerful policy into the federal budget. Don't miss this essential discussion on how flow-through shares could fundamentally transform tech funding in Canada's capital.

Looking for more Techopia?

📰 Visit: https://obj.ca/techopia

📧 Sign up for the weekly Techopia newsletter: https://obj121.activehosted.com/f/5


Techopia Live: Unlocking Capital: Are flow through shares a gamechanger for tech? | Episode 284

Glenn Clark Radio is live every weekday 10am-noon. Listen at PressBoxOnline.com/Radio, watch at Facebook.com/PressBoxSports.

The Ottawa Business Journal is the leading source of business news and information Canada's national capital region. CEOs and business leaders turn to OBJ for the business news they can't find anywhere else – unique and relevant content tailored to business managers, owners, professionals and executives.

With a number of media platforms available to reach our audience, Ottawa Business Journal has something for every advertiser. OBJ's scope includes its monthly newsmagazine, the largest business news website in Ottawa, OBJToday daily e-newsletter, active social media channels, a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos, multimedia industry projects and some of Ottawa's premier business events.

New tracks tagged #obj