NAME: 

Patrick M. Pilarski

POST-NOMINAL CREDENTIALS:

Ph.D., B.ASc., ICD.D

NAME FOR APPEARANCE (Amii focus):

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski, Amii Fellow & Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski, Canada CIFAR AI Chair (Amii)

NAME FOR APPEARANCE (University of Alberta focus):

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski, Professor, University of Alberta
Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski, Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta
Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski, Canada CIFAR AI Chair (Amii) & Professor, University of Alberta

WEBSITE:

https://sites.ualberta.ca/~pilarski/ 
https://pilarski.github.io/ 

EMAIL:

pilarski@ualberta.ca

PHONE:

By request only.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND SITES:

GitHub: https://github.com/pilarski
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1686-2978
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=VGQmtWEAAAAJ
Mastodon:  https://mstdn.social/@PatrickPilarski 
X: @PatrickPilarski (https://twitter.com/PatrickPilarski)
 
SHORT FORMAT BIO (ACADEMIC):

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski is a Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair (Amii), past Canada Research Chair in Machine Intelligence for Rehabilitation, and a Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. He is a Fellow and Board Member of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), co-leads the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control (BLINC) Laboratory, and is a principal investigator with the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (RLAI) and iSMART at the University of Alberta. Dr. Pilarski received the B.ASc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2004, the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2009, and completed his postdoctoral training in the Computing Science with Dr. Richard S. Sutton at the University of Alberta in 2014. He is a holder of the Institute of Corporate Directors Director designation. Dr. Pilarski’s research interests include reinforcement learning and decision making, artificial intelligence, real-time machine learning, human-machine interaction, intelligence amplification, rehabilitation technology, and assistive robotics. His research accomplishments include some of the first published approaches to ongoing user training of upper-limb prosthesis control systems via reinforcement learning, and he pioneered the use of general value functions in prediction learning to continually adapt myoelectric control interfaces in real time. Dr. Pilarski is the award-winning author or co-author of more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and has been supported by provincial, national, and international research grants.

SHORT FORMAT BIO (GENERAL / INDUSTRY):

A leading authority on the intersection of artificial intelligence and machine learning with real-world applications, Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski is a Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. In 2017, Dr. Pilarski co-founded the first international research office of Alphabet Inc’s United-Kingdom-based subsidiary DeepMind, establishing and growing this high-profile research and development office in his home town of Edmonton, Alberta. He served as the office’s co-lead and a Senior Staff Research Scientist until 2023. Dr. Pilarski currently serves as a director on the board of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, one of three national not-for-profit institutes established as part of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. He also serves as a director on the board of Silvacom Holdings Corp. Dr. Pilarski regularly delivers invited keynotes to boards, business organizations, policy makers, and the general public on the growing impact of artificial intelligence on medicine, industry, and society. He previously founded a startup company, actively engages in consulting, has created multiple arts organizations, and has further governance experience in the arts sector on steering councils and advisory boards of regional and national creative arts organizations. He graduated from the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program (DEP) in 2024, and is a holder of the Institute of Corporate Directors Director designation.

LONG FORMAT BIO:

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski is a Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair (Amii), past Canada Research Chair in Machine Intelligence for Rehabilitation, and a Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. He is a Fellow and Board Member of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), co-leads the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control (BLINC) Laboratory, and is a principal investigator with the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (RLAI) and iSMART at the University of Alberta. Dr. Pilarski received the B.ASc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2004, the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2009, and completed his postdoctoral training in the Computing Science with Dr. Richard S. Sutton at the University of Alberta in 2014. He graduated from the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program (DEP) in 2024, and is a holder of the Institute of Corporate Directors Director designation.

Dr. Pilarski’s research interests include reinforcement learning and decision making, artificial intelligence, real-time machine learning, human-machine interaction, intelligence amplification, rehabilitation technology, and assistive robotics. He leads the Amii Adaptive Prosthetics Program—an interdisciplinary initiative focused on creating intelligent artificial limbs to restore and extend abilities for people with amputations. As part of this research, Dr. Pilarski has developed and made prominent machine learning techniques for continual sensorimotor control and prediction learning on prosthetic devices. These include some of the first published approaches to ongoing user training of upper-limb prosthesis control systems via reinforcement learning, and he pioneered the use of general value functions in prediction learning to continually adapt myoelectric control interfaces in real time. Dr. Pilarski’s research programme continues to explore human-device interaction and communication, long-term co-adaptation and joint action between agents, patient-specific device optimization, and constructivism in tightly coupled human-machine interfaces. He has also created techniques for rapid cancer and pathogen screening through work on biomedical pattern recognition, robotic micro-manipulation of medical samples, and hand-held diagnostic devices. Dr. Pilarski is the award-winning author or co-author of more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and has been supported by provincial, national, and international research grants.

In 2017, Dr. Pilarski co-founded the first international research office of Alphabet Inc’s United-Kingdom-based subsidiary DeepMind, establishing and growing this high-profile research and development office in his home town of Edmonton, Alberta. He served as the office’s co-lead and a Senior Staff Research Scientist until 2023. Dr. Pilarski currently serves as a director on the board of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii; 2017-present) one of three national not-for-profit institutes established as part of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Prior to its incorporation, he served on Amii’s management advisory board within the University of Alberta (2014-2016). He also serves as a director on the board of Silvacom Holdings Corp. Dr. Pilarski regularly delivers invited keynotes to boards, business organizations, policy makers, and the general public on the growing impact of artificial intelligence on medicine, industry, and society. He previously founded a startup company, actively engages in consulting, has created multiple arts organizations, and has further governance experience in the arts sector on steering councils and advisory boards of regional and national creative arts organizations.

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