Research & Ideas

Digital illustration of lockbox containing a blue face and a yellow key made up of pixels. There is a small opening on the left side of the box, with a trail of blue pixels outside the opening.

Safety First

AI has developed faster than anyone thought. Will it serve humanity’s best interests?

The text

AI Everywhere

Before we know it, artificial intelligence will be all around us. Are we ready?

David Rokeby in glasses and a black T-shirt, standing in front of a screen, with multiple colours in various patterns projected on the screen

The Theatre of Tomorrow

A U of T lab is working with actors, writers and directors on how they could harness AI and other emerging technologies to generate new ideas and – just maybe – reinvent theatre

Close up of Prof. Gillian Hadfield in a black turtleneck sweater, smiling against a solid dark-brown background

Will AI Be a Force for Good?

New technologies are difficult to regulate. With artificial intelligence, it may be time to rethink our approach, says Gillian Hadfield

Photo of front campus field and Convocation Hall with flower emoji illustrations floating above

Clearing the Air

U of T wants to drastically cut carbon emissions by 2050. It’s enlisting on-campus ingenuity for help

Close up picture of a model of a human heart created with a 3-D printer

Pumped Up

These 3-D printers create perfect models of life-sized human hearts, spines and other body parts

Stone pillars almost completely replaced by blockchains

In Machines We Trust

Blockchain has the potential to transform financial transactions. This could spell trouble for banks and other institutional go-betweens

Robot with seven arms, each performing a different task

The Limits of AI

As artificial intelligence advances, humans need to pay closer attention to what it can and can’t do

Rendering of what a TransPod might look like on Spadina Avenue in Toronto

Hyperloop Explained

A new transportation technology could zip you from Toronto to Montreal in 45 minutes. We took a peek under the hood

Illustration of a singer that looks like a robot

Alexa, Compose Me a Song

So far, machines are not very good at creating original art, such as pop tunes and short stories. Could it be they’re missing something uniquely human?

Photo of a green farm field.

Greener Pastures

Can a simple high-tech tool for farmers boost crop yields in developing countries?

Will Ginsberg and Afifa Saleem sitting at a desk in front of an open laptop, a student out of focus in the foreground

Teaching Kids How to Code

U of T undergrads are bringing the language of computers to youth in Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods. Will it “future-proof” them?

Data Minding

A mathematician offers ideas on how to protect ourselves from hackers without making our digital devices impossibly complex to use

Dr. Joseph Cafazzo holding a mobile device showing the Medly app

Healing Hearts at Home

Apps such as Medly are expected to reduce hospital admission rates for heart patients while also helping them recover

Engineering PhD student Justin Kim has built nine robots not much larger than your thumb that exhibit

The Wisdom of Crowds

PhD student Justin Kim is working on intelligent “swarming” robots that could one day help rescue earthquake survivors and explore other planets

Tomi Poutanen (MASc 1998, MBA 1999), is a fellow at the Rotman School's Creative Destruction Lab.

Getting to Know You

How Tomi Poutanen is using artificial intelligence to help companies learn more about their customers’ preferences

Photo of a teaBOT robot

Brewed to a T

Using robotic technology, an engineering student lets tea drinkers create their perfect cuppa

Photo of a small robot with wheels in front of a ball

Robots That Play Soccer

At the end of the course, teams pit their robots against each other in an actual match on a mini-"field"

Photo of a electric car charging station.

Carbon Busters

How can Toronto reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Munk School students propose the ways

Photo of streetcar and bikers along Queen's Quay

On the Right Track

Prof. Eric Miller wants to use improved data – and more of it – to help cities make better transit decisions

Photo of Tom Garside and four fourth-year students

Muscle and Metal

How a unique collaboration is making life better for a student with cerebral palsy

Illustration of a rail car design that could be safer.

Safe Passage

A student’s innovative rail car design would greatly reduce chances of an explosion

Illustration of a man who's head dissolved into geometric shapes. Computer science professor Geoffrey Hinton believes artificial intelligence will soon transform almost everything we do.

Getting Smarter

A U of T computer scientist is helping to build a new generation of intelligent machines

Photo of ChipCare device.

Handheld Lab

U of T startup ChipCare gets set to unveil a revolutionary portable HIV blood-testing device

Photo of the paper-thin aerelight.

Bright Idea

A U of T grad's paper-thin lamp technology could revolutionize the lighting industry

Photo of the Dragonfly Telephoto Array.

A New Kind of Telescope

The Dragonfly telescope created at U of T and Yale has led to the discovery of never-before-seen celestial structures

Four atomic-like globes, each in a different colour

Elementary, My Dear Watson

Computer science students are developing a legal application for IBM’s Jeopardy-winning computer as part of $100,000 contest

Liu and Zhu’s tracheal intubation guide system.

A Life-Saving Innovation

Recent grads win engineering design award for a low-cost medical device that will help keep patients breathing

Photo of alcohol bottles.

Detecting the DTs

New app helps physicians diagnose alcohol withdrawal – and can tell when someone is faking it