Louis Bouchard
Head of Artificial Intelligence at designstripe & YouTuber What's AI
Louis Bouchard is from Montreal, Canada, also known as "What's AI". He focuses on making AI accessible through his blog posts, newsletter, and YouTube videos. Louis trie to share and explain artificial intelligence terms and news the best way he can for everyone. His goal is to demystify the AI "black box" for everyone and sensitize people about the risks of using it.
How did you get to become an expert in your key topics?
My background is rather conventional and straightforward from where I come. I was one of the many who had no idea what to do with my life during high school. The one thing I knew was that I loved Sherlock Holmes but did not like violence, so the police force wasn’t really for me. I always wanted to do something other people would think was difficult to do but didn’t know what. I also got told I was good at maths, so I chose the easy path for me, which was in applied sciences at a Canadian college, which would open the most doors possible. Then, I still had no idea what to do, but I had good grades and had the freedom to choose, so I once again pursued the choice that would open most doors, which was in engineering, following most of my friends. I had no idea what engineering even meant at the time, and I discovered that I really didn’t like it. More specifically, my degree was automated production engineering, which meant that I was working with robots but stayed pretty general, studying maths, mechanics, electrics, programming, etc. Three years in and four 4-months internships, and I still did not know what to do with my life. I only knew that I did not want to work in a factory with robots without human interactions, which was the experience of most of my internships. I liked programming, but I hated that “lonely” side.
Fortunately, I discovered artificial intelligence in my last year. Or rather, I discovered computer vision and then AI. I loved it. I directly created an Instagram account to try and explain stuff I was learning to be sure I understood it correctly, it really helped me, and I aced my courses. I did my final year project in computer vision as well, and around that time started a YouTube channel to push myself to read more research papers and improve my speaking skills, which clearly worked. Please, do not watch the first videos I made!
I pursued a master’s degree in AI-computer vision research with an amazing supervisor called Matthew Toews, and I may continue with a Ph.D. sometime in the future. I am still thinking about it. In the meantime, I am working as a research scientist, and I love it. I always exchange with others to learn and improve what we are working on, and I love the theory and maths behind AI, which helps a lot in this field, working doesn’t feel like working at all, and this comes from someone that hated his previous jobs and went through them painfully. If you feel lost, just keep going and trying new things, do not give up. You will certainly find something that you enjoy doing and that you can make money out of. I discovered my passion at 23 years old, and there’s no shame even if you are older than that. Working in what you love is worth the time invested in its research.
What sub-topics are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about computer vision-related topics, but anything that involves AI interests me. I am also a big fan of ethics, psychology, and philosophy, which all come together in this field. AI, in general, is amazing. I love how it is literally applied mathematics, something that any young student doesn’t believe exists, and ask their teacher each year.
Who influences you within these topics?
What challenges are brands facing in this space?
I think the biggest challenges brands are facing in this space is ethics. Being responsible is something as important in AI as it is in your day-to-day life when you hold the door for someone. Of course, there are many technical challenges, but I believe we will always find a way to solve them, whereas some of us avoid responsibility, and this must not happen with such a technology. I believe governments should work even more with professors, researchers, and companies to better understand new technologies and how they will change our world and figure out how they can adapt our laws and governance to these new technologies faster and more reliably.
What do you think the future holds in this space?
What brands are leading the way in this space?
If a brand wanted to work with you, which activities would you be most interested in collaborating on?
I would love to collaborate on speaking opportunities, interviews, or simply video/article coverage of new technologies. I would also love to collaborate on whitepaper or webinars, being a researcher myself. I’m pretty much interested in anything that allows others to learn something new or help them in any way.
What are your passions outside of work?
What would be the best way for a brand to contact you?
Through email or LinkedIn.
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