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by Sytten 377 days ago
This guys annoys me a an entrepreneur because he gets a sh*t ton of government money and it starves the rest of the ecosystem in Montreal. The previous startup he made with that public money essentially failed. But he is some kind of hero of AI so it's an easy sell for politicians that need to demonstrate they are doing something about AI.
2 comments

This is accurate, and what's impressive is how well this is scrubbed from the internet. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Element_AI

You'd have no idea about the fact most of the money came from the Quebec pension fund (which is then where the ServiceNow money went). For that you have to go to https://betakit.com/element-ai-announces-200-million-cad-ser... or https://www.cdpq.com/en/news/pressreleases/cdpq-expands-its-... Managing to spend $200M on AI in 2019 and having nothing to show for it in 2025. Quite impressive with hindsight.

This is misinformation and you are sharing some very dangerous things online.
It reads like possibly slander, but dangerous? I don't understand how it could be dangerous
The sentiment is real in Montréal for the rest of whomever wasn't holding on to the coattails of the government's golden-boy. $100M and what to show for it? A cool office in Rosemont? That company was fucked.
I think Hacker News is better when it doesn't involve vague threats.