Trent University Durham GTA is putting people at the centre of Canada’s artificial intelligence future – one lesson, one collaboration, one breakthrough at a time.
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be built on code, but it is driven by human decisions. Every dataset reflects the choices, biases, and intentions of the people behind the machines – and every application is a test of our capacity to use technology to advance human development.
Canada is now marking that test more deliberately. In 2025, Ottawa created the country’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, launching a 30-day AI Strategy Task Force to refresh the national plan. It’s an explicit signal that talent, research, and responsible adoption are being graded as priorities at the highest level of government.
At Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area (GTA), students and researchers are determined to raise the grade. The University is betting that the future of AI will not only be measured solely by technical benchmarks or business profits, AI also needs to reflect the people who learn to shape it with care. That belief has inspired some of Trent’s most distinctive academic offerings – including the Bachelor of Arts in Artificial Intelligence programme (the first of its kind in Canada) and a growing portfolio of research collaborations that stretch from Durham Region to international forums.
Trent students are not just evaluated on whether they can write an effective line of code. They’re challenged to ask the bigger questions: Should this tool be applied in this way? What values should guide its use? The faculty who teach these students are also testing the same high standards, advancing research that explores AI’s applications and its limits.
Balancing code and conscience
At Trent Durham, studying AI is about pairing this evolving technology with uniquely human skills. As Canada’s only university to offer both a B.A. and a B.Sc. in AI, Trent challenges students to balance code with conscience and critical thinking.
The B.Sc. stream equips students with technical foundations – coding, algorithms, data systems – the essential skills needed in an AI-driven economy. The B.A. emphasises philosophy, governance, and ethics, pressing students to weigh the societal consequences of intelligent machines. Increasingly, students cross between the two, shaping a cohort as comfortable in a lab as they are in a policy debate.
© Oshawa Night
“AI is more than just a tool – it’s a reflection of human choices and biases,” explained Dr James Connelly, professor of Philosophy and coordinator of the AI programme at Trent Durham. “Our graduates won’t just know how to code; they’ll know how to lead conversations about what responsible AI looks like.”
That spirit of inquiry runs through Trent’s research as well. Dr Martina Orlandi, Assistant Professor of AI, is examining the human side of intelligence, exploring how automation challenges our understanding of creativity, decision-making, and purpose. Her work probes the ethical gaps in machine learning, exploring what it means when we begin outsourcing distinctly human capacities – like critical reasoning – to artificial intelligence.
“AI forces us to confront big questions about what makes life meaningful,” she said. “If machines can take over tasks we once thought were uniquely human, how do we define human value in work and society? Will making life easier necessarily make life better?”
Outside the lecture hall, the stakes are clear. Surveys show 57% of Canadians have already used an AI tool, with younger generations leading adoption, and 78% of organisations globally now report deploying AI in some capacity.
Passing the real-world test
Education at Trent Durham doesn’t unfold in isolation. The University’s campus location in the heart of Durham Region, within the Greater Toronto Area, provides a living lab where theory meets practice. Recognised internationally as a Top7 Intelligent Community, Durham is becoming a logistics and innovation hub, with warehouses and distribution centres already built for an AI-enabled economy.
For Simon Gill, Director of Invest Durham & Durham Tourism, the region’s momentum is about adaptability. Government, business, and postsecondary institutions like Trent are already working hand in hand to bring AI from the lab into the marketplace.
“We’re helping companies to apply deep learning technologies, make connections, and compete globally,” he said. “The talent pipeline we’re building here is already attracting the kinds of businesses that will define the next era of prosperity.”
Durham’s advantages are clear: direct access to Ontario’s busiest highways, a deep-sea port, an executive airport, and major rail connections. New facilities are designed to integrate automation from the ground up, and Trent students are stepping directly into these environments with technical skills and the critical perspective that comes from wrestling with ethical dilemmas in the lecture hall.
In Trent Durham’s Logistics & Supply Chain Management programme, Dr Ali Vaezi is preparing students to lead in an industry transformed by automation and AI.
“Big companies are reshaping teams and relying more on AI,” he said. “When students master these tools and combine them with domain expertise and human insight, employers see they’re not competing with AI—they’re enhancing it.”
With a strong focus on systems thinking, analytics, and decision-making, the programme trains students to turn relevant data into useful insights and translate them into actionable decisions for employers in the GTA and beyond, including Amazon, Lactalis, and Martin Brower.
© City of Oshawa
Durham’s leadership in AI is as much about education as it is about innovation. John Henry, Regional Chair and CEO for Durham Region, points to the region’s postsecondary institutions as catalysts for that progress.
“Here in Durham Region, our academic institutions are helping lead the way on AI – equipping students with cutting-edge skills and driving applied research that addresses real-world challenges,” said Chair Henry. “Trent University’s Artificial Intelligence and Logistics & Supply Chain Management programmes are shining examples of this. They’re providing students with the tools to drive innovation in smart manufacturing, automation, and data-driven decision-making.”
Extra credit for collaboration
Trent’s research collaborations, regionally and globally, are earning the University high marks. As the boundaries of AI are tested, Trent is also working to connect students and faculty across borders to strengthen a collective approach. A standout example is EaRTH District, a coalition of postsecondary institutions in Eastern Ontario focused on energy, environment, and technology innovation.
Through EaRTH District, researchers are looking at integrating AI into projects that model smart grids, track environmental change, and support climate resilience. In Canada’s electricity system specifically, sector reports highlight how AI is already helping with long-term planning and managing grid security limits. These are the kinds of group projects where ethicists from Trent can collaborate with other professions, like engineers, as well as industry and government more broadly.
No single institution can address the scope of AI’s implications – but by collaborating through initiatives like EaRTH District, we create a research ecosystem that earns extra credit by being greater than the sum of its parts.
Global exams, local answers
The impact of a university goes far beyond campus boundaries. At Trent University, we take this challenge to heart. Earlier this year, I joined Invest Durham’s delegation to Hannover Messe in Germany, one of the world’s largest industrial trade fairs.
The global momentum surrounding AI is undeniable. AI is moving from experiment to expectation. If we’re not preparing our students – and by extension, our economy – to lead in this space, we risk being left behind.
Markets are watching the scoreboard as well. Analysts estimate the global AI market will be valued at roughly $1.8 trillion USD by 2030. Canadian revenues are on their own steep growth trajectory, with some estimates modelling 30% annual expansion through the decade. The signal is consistent: adoption is broadening and capital is accelerating.
For Durham Region, the lesson is clear: when business and government work together with education, they earn credibility in international markets. By ensuring its graduates can both design and critique intelligent systems, Trent Durham demonstrates that Canada’s talent pool is not only skilled but thoughtful.
Final grade: Humanity above all
AI is often described in terms of technical benchmarks: accuracy rates, processing speeds, or predictive power. But the final exam of the AI era is not about machines. It will be about people.
At Trent Durham, graduates are being evaluated on their ability to adapt, innovate, and question. Faculty are focused on producing research that contributes to technology with values and industry with ethics. At Trent, we are taking on and rising to the challenge to prepare students not just for today’s jobs, but for tomorrow’s world.
“AI isn’t neutral,” said Dr Orlandi. “It forces us to think about what kind of society we want to build alongside it. That’s what our students are wrestling with – and why they’ll be better leaders for it.”
In the end, AI may help with tasks, but it’s not replacing effort. By encouraging ethics, aligning classrooms with research, and applying research in the real world, Trent Durham is creating conditions for students to innovate and shape a future where AI serves humanity, not the other way around.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 24th edition of our quarterly publication.
