Front cover of Spring 2024 issue of University of Toronto Magazine. The title

Spring 2024

PDF Edition

AI will soon be everywhere. Are we ready? Read how U of T researchers are working to ensure that this powerful – and increasingly ubiquitous –  technology serves humanity’s best interests. Plus: how to halve carbon emissions from Toronto building construction, what comics bring to linguistics, the challenges of being pregnant and disabled and more.

In This Issue

Students acting in a scene from The Trials. Two students appear to be in confrontation across a wooden table, with other students in the background, watching the pair.

Acting for Earth

Fourth-year drama students put their skills to the test with a theatrical warning of climate change run amok

Jenan Noureddine, wearing a white lab coat and a mauve-coloured hijab, holding and examining a potted plant in a clean, white, well-lit room with a monitor displaying temperature, humidity and CO2 readings

Seeds of Resilience

Plant growth chambers will enable researchers to test how food crops fare under different conditions

Sunny, exterior view of the west side of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. The building consists of a tapered tower with narrow windows all around.

A Global Hub for Safe AI

The Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus will help develop artificial intelligence that benefits humanity – from ideas and scholarship to successful startups

Digital illustration of a face made up of blue pixels and a key made up of yellow pixels inside a lockbox. 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?