BCE BCE Inc

• Three-year partnership supports the development of cutting-edge AI solutions, enhancing customer experience and optimizing business operations

MONTRÉAL, June 13, 2024 /CNW/ - Mila and Bell are pleased to announce a new partnership to develop cutting-edge AI solutions. This collaboration is driven by a shared vision to enhance customer experience, optimize business operations and cultivate a vibrant AI ecosystem within Québec and across Canada.

In line with Bell's significant investments in AI, this partnership reinforces Bell's transformation as a technology services leader, harnessing Mila's groundbreaking research to drive transformative improvements across Bell's operations. From data analysis and operational efficiency to internet-based applications, Mila's expertise will accelerate advancements that will enhance the customer experience.

This announcement builds on the 18-month collaborative project Mila and Bell entered into earlier this year to apply deep learning neural network algorithms to Bell's environment. This technique leverages the transformative power of AI deep learning to teach computers how to process information in a manner inspired by the human brain.

By working more closely with Mila, Bell will continue to champion the exploration of emerging technologies, leveraging Mila's cutting-edge research and intellectual leadership, collaborating with emerging AI innovators and engaging in scientific discussions. The expertise gained from applying AI within Bell's operations will be leveraged to empower the entire Canadian business community.

With Mila headquartered in Montréal, Bell will continue developing the city as a key centre for innovation, which includes recently purchased Montréal-based FX Innovation, a leading expert of cloud-focussed managed and professional services and workflow automation solutions, and the technology development team at Bell behind award-winning apps such as MyBell.

"Mila is very pleased to welcome Bell into its partnership community. We look forward to working with the Bell team to explore AI solutions for their business processes and to draw key learnings that can benefit organisations across Canada and their customers."
-  Stéphane Létourneau, Executive Vice President of Mila

"Our new partnership with Mila will strengthen Bell's position as an AI leader, enabling us to leverage the world-class institute's cutting-edge research to drive improvements across customer experience, operations, data analysis and Internet-based applications. The experience and knowledge we gain from this relationship will help us support our customers better, while furthering Bell's position as a technology services leader."
-  Michel Richer, SVP, Enterprise Solutions, Data Engineering & AI, Bell Canada

Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montréal, Mila is the world's largest academic research center for deep learning, bringing together over 1,200 specialized researchers in machine learning. Based in Montréal and funded in part by the Government of Canada through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Mila's mission is to be a global center for scientific advancements that inspire innovation and the growth of AI for the benefit of all. Mila is a globally recognized non-profit organization for its significant contributions to deep learning, especially in the fields of language modeling, automatic translation, object recognition, and generative models. For more information, visit mila.quebec. 

Bell is Canada's largest communications company,¹ providing advanced broadband Internet, wireless, TV, media and business communication services. Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca  or BCE.ca.

Through Bell for Better, we are investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of our communities. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.

Media inquiries:
Monte McAuliffe
monte.mcauliffe@belliant.ca

Investor inquiries:
Richard Bengian
richard.bengian@bell.ca

SOURCE Bell Canada