Symposium to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism and press freedom

World Press Freedom Canada is pleased to announce Hugo Larochelle, scientific director at Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, as the keynote speaker at our fall symposium. 

This year’s theme, AI & the Press: Threats & Opportunities explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism and press freedom from the rewards of newsroom efficiency to the risks of undermining trust. It comes as Minister Evan Solomon promises new AI policy to guide its development and deployment.

Larochelle is among the most influential figures in artificial intelligence in Canada. Trained at the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Yoshua Bengio and later as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto under Geoffrey Hinton, he has made significant contributions to the advancement of deep learning while remaining committed to rigorous, open and socially beneficial science. He will kick off the half-day event on Parliament Hill, followed by panels with our featured speakers: 

• Craig Silverman, an open-source intelligence trainer and founder of Indictator; 
• Nikita Roy, founder of Newsroom Robots Lab; 
• Grant Ellis, executive editor of the Toronto Star;
• Wilf Dinnick, co-founder of GetFact.ca; 
• David Skok, CEO and editor-in-chief The Logic; 
• Anita Li, founder and publisher of The Green Line; 
• Aengus Bridgman, assistant professor in the Max Bell School of Public Policy; 
• Rignam Wangkhang, AI projects adviser at CBC News.

When: Thursday, November 6, 2025 — 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (ET)

Where: Room W-180, 1 Wellington St., Parliament Hill (Ottawa, Ont.)