NEWS: You ain’t seen nothing yet! ROSS Intelligence launches its AI research and development HQ in TO ROSS is very proud to announce the opening of ROSS North, its new R&D HQ in Toronto. Among those in attendance for the ceremony was Toronto Mayor John Tory and University of Toronto President Meric Gertler.
The ribbon cutting! San Francisco-based ROSS Intelligence returns home to Toronto with the launch of ROSS North, its brand new research and development headquarters. “Our Toronto AI R&D center will serve as the epicenter of our artificial intelligence breakthroughs. The people of Toronto will benefit by having another world-leading AI group within a city that
continues to attract top-flight engineering talent from around the world,” says Andrew Arruda, CEO and co-founder of ROSS Intelligence. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony held on June 5, Arruda said: “We are proud to be here at the University of Toronto, we are proud to be here in Toronto, and we are proud to be back in Canada. When we packed up our bags and moved to Silicon Valley after receiving funding from Y Combinator, we resolved that we would return home. Returning to Toronto means a lot. It’s the city where ROSS was born, it’s a city that has always supported us and it’s the city where work on deep learning and neural nets was pioneered. ROSS Intelligence’s return to Toronto ensures that we continue to stay on the bleeding edge of AI development and we continue to be the market leader when it comes to artificial intelligence within the legal space.”
University of Toronto President Meric Gertler Present at the opening was University of Toronto President Meric Gertler. “On behalf of the University of Toronto community let me say to all who have been involved in the opening of the ROSS Intelligence AI
research and development headquarters here in Toronto, congratulations on your homecoming and most of all congratulations on your brilliant success in just a few short years. We know that innovation is the engine of prosperity, both economic and social, and the work of ROSS Intelligence demonstrates this beautifully.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory Toronto Mayor John Tory, someone who we are proud to call a friend of ROSS Intelligence, has this to say about us: “Where was ROSS when I needed ROSS? I hope that the people here from the media understand just how revolutionary this is compared to the experience that many people have had over decades, in fact centuries, of painstaking, painful legal research. While computers are not perfect in doing legal research, artificial intelligence has developed thanks to the work ROSS has done, to the point where a lot of the work can be done much more productively – and that’s productively for lawyers, students and law clerks —but also for their clients. ROSS is a great thing for the legal profession.”
On ROSS’s committment to the legal community, President Gertler said: “You’ve developed an incredibly powerful tool to reduce costs and increase productivity for lawyers and law firms and at the same time, you’ve embraced a social mission by providing free access to ROSS for non-profits, law schools and other associations and in doing so are really democratizing access to justice for all. So it’s both exciting and inspiring.” Says Mayor Tory on ROSS increasing access, “I hope that what ROSS brings in terms of that small sense of social justice that’s part of your business mandate, which is to allow people to have access to ROSS who are non-profits and people trying to make a difference in the world who have no money, is a small indication of your roots returning home. That’s how we live here and that’s how we will continue to live moving forward.”
“Where was ROSS when I needed ROSS?” — Toronto Mayor John Tory
Andrew Arruda
ROSS is live across every major legal hub in the United States and is being used by lawyers working at Fortune 500 companies, small law firms, solo-practioners, within government agencies, and by lawyers at the world’s largest and most profitable law firms. “The desire to democratize the law with artificial intelligence is what keeps ROSS moving so fast. We are proud to have been named one of the top 100 AI companies in the world this year by CBInsights,” says Arruda.
“Congratulations on your homecoming and most of all congratulations on your brilliant success in just a few short years. We know that innovation is the engine of prosperity, both economic and social, and the work of ROSS Intelligence demonstrates this beautifully.” — U of T President Meric Gertler President Gertler expressed how happy he was that the arrival of ROSS North is part of a larger development in which Toronto has emerged as a global hub in the AI revolution, confirmed with the creation of the Vector Institute. “I have to say that these developments, while they are very, very impressive, are no mystery. They are a clear example of how long-term public support for investigative-led, curiosity-driven research, expands our knowledge of the world and also expands our ability to change the world for the better, ultimately it becomes a key driver of innovation and prosperity.” Adding to this, Mayor Tory says, “We are blessed ROSS has come home. I was thrilled at the hints you dropped to me when I visited Silicon Valley, that you were going to come home with a part of your enterprise – an important part of your enterprise. It is not just about ROSS coming home and the group of people you will employ in the research and development centre, but all that it will spawn. I’m optimistic that it will
spawn the return to Toronto of some very smart people who left here, and they left here perhaps thinking at the time that there wasn’t the opportunity here – but those things are changing every day and we are working hard to make them change.” Innovation and a global outlook are hallmarks of ROSS’s success. As a company which boasts employees holding passports from over 17 countries, from Brazil to Iceland to Nigeria to Korea, diversity is a cornerstone of ROSS. Toronto sets an international standard when it comes to diversity and equality and we continue to be proud to have founded ROSS in such a wonderfully inclusive city.
Professor Khai Truong Also attending the launch was Professor Khai Truong, Associate Chair of Research at the Department of Computer Science. “I am pleased to welcome ROSS North back to Toronto where we will continue to work together towards the next AI breakthrough. ROSS Intelligence stands out as a remarkable entrepreneurial achievement among the long list of start-ups and tech transfers that have been created here.” Matt Medland heads up the Applied Computer Program at the Department of Computer Science, a program ROSS has relied on for multiple hires. “I was invited to judge ROSS early on in a pitch, I’m happy to say I got it right! We continue to battle the brain drain and ROSS moving back North is only helping further in that endeavor. ROSS Intelligence’s homecoming will help us grow and train more people.” Arruda agrees: “With our AI R&D headquarters being present in Toronto, a world of possibilities is open to us when it comes to ensuring the best and brightest engineers continue to join the ROSS team.”
Matt Medland Artificial intelligence is now front-row center when it comes to conversations about the future of technology and the future of humanity. AI will continue to revolutionize every industry, from finance to medicine, and everything in between. ROSS Intelligence is proud to be the leader of bringing artificial intelligence to the law. The biggest breakthroughs are yet to come and ROSS Intelligence, in partnership with the University of Toronto and with the support of Toronto and Canada, will be at the forefront of this new technological revolution. The future is very bright. And we are happy to be home! Having the Mayor of Toronto cut the ribbon of ROSS North alongside the President of the University of Toronto means a lot to ROSS. The University of Toronto is the home to world-renowned AI pioneers and to be working in partnership with them and groups such as the Vector Institute is exciting. “As for the support from the city itself, it’s been amazing,” says Arruda. “Knowing we have the U of T, city of Toronto and country of Canada behind us really lights a fire under us. We are excited about what we will accomplish with our ROSS North team now launched. The future is bright!” Adds President Gertler: “Clearly Toronto isn’t just catching a wave. We are making waves, as our friends in San Francisco and investors are realizing. Here, on the North shores of Lake Ontario…surfs up!” Says Mayor Tory, “I hope ROSS causes lots of disruption of the most positive kind because we need that in order to stay at the forefront.”
To learn more about ROSS: www.rossintelligence.com. Tagged in Artificial Intelligence, Legaltech, Legal, Toronto By Ava Chisling on June 6, 2017. Canonical link Exported from Medium on August 18, 2017.