Montreal's AI sector is better understood as a few kinds of organizations than as a single list of companies. The anchor is Mila, the deep learning research center founded by Yoshua Bengio, around which corporate research labs, university spin-offs, a federally funded industry cluster, and several startups that were later bought by larger firms have formed. No source checked for this page provides a current, audited count of AI companies in the city, and any ranked list of them rests on a choice of definitions rather than on data.
Key takeaways
- Mila is one of three national AI institutes created under the federal Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, which began in 2017 with CAD 125 million in Budget 2017.
- Montreal's best-documented corporate moves are DeepMind's Montreal lab (announced October 6, 2017), Microsoft's agreement to buy Maluuba (January 13, 2017), and ServiceNow's purchase of Element AI (completed January 8, 2021).
- Counts of researchers or firms differ by source, year, and definition, so they should not be compared across documents.
- In Quebec, a business that uses personal information to make a decision based solely on automated processing must tell the person, under the private sector privacy act as amended by Law 25.
- A company's existence and status can be checked free of charge in Quebec's enterprise register.
Why no ranked list appears here
A claim such as "the top 20 AI companies in Montreal" needs a rule for what counts as an AI company. A university-linked research lab, a software firm that added a chatbot to an existing product, and a startup whose product is a machine learning model are three different things, and public directories rarely say which they list. Montréal International, the city's investment agency, has quoted figures in several formats over the years. In an October 2017 announcement it cited more than 250 leading AI researchers in the region. The Mila page checked in October 2026 describes a community of more than 1,400 people. The two numbers measure different groups in different years and cannot be read as growth.
For that reason this page describes the types of organization that have been documented, with dates, and leaves out rankings. Employee counts and funding totals for private firms were left out unless a primary announcement gave them.
Four kinds of AI organization in Montreal
| Type | Documented example | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Research institute | Mila | Founded by Yoshua Bengio in 1993 as a research lab, became a nonprofit organization in 2018, and works with Université de Montréal and McGill University. Its own site names Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal as close partners. |
| Corporate research lab | DeepMind Montreal | Announced October 6, 2017, in collaboration with McGill, as the company's second Canadian site after Edmonton. McGill professor Doina Precup was named to lead it, and the office was to sit in Google's building on McGill College Avenue. |
| Startup acquired by a larger firm | Maluuba, Element AI | Microsoft announced on January 13, 2017 that it would buy Maluuba, a language-understanding startup with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo and Montreal; no price was disclosed. ServiceNow completed its purchase of Element AI, founded in 2016, on January 8, 2021, for approximately USD 230 million according to law-firm reports. |
| Industry consortium | Scale AI | Calls itself Canada's AI Global Innovation Cluster. Its site lists CAD 284 million from the Government of Canada and CAD 53.0 million from the Government of Quebec, matched by private-sector contributions. |
The table is a sample of documented entities, not a census. Several well-known firms and labs are absent because their size, location, or ownership could not be confirmed from a primary page.
Public money behind the sector
The Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy began in 2017. According to the federal government, Budget 2017 provided CAD 125 million for its first phase, Budget 2021 provided CAD 443.8 million for a second phase, and the 2024 Fall Economic Statement added CAD 174 million. The strategy names three national institutes: Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal, and the Vector Institute in Toronto. Money of this kind pays for researchers, graduate students, and shared infrastructure. It does not tell a reader whether a particular company is profitable or whether its product works.
What Quebec law adds for a Montreal AI product
A Montreal firm that builds or buys an AI system and uses it on customers or job applicants works under Quebec's private sector privacy law, which Law 25 amended. The province's privacy regulator, the Commission d'accès à l'information, says on its page on the main changes of Law 25 that an organization must inform a person who is subject to a decision based solely on automated processing of their personal information, no later than when the decision is communicated. The person must also be given a chance to present observations to a staff member who can review the decision. The page dates several of the changes to September 2023 and the data portability right to September 22, 2024.
This is a notice and review duty, not a ban on automated decisions. How far the phrase "solely on automated processing" reaches when a human glances at a result is a legal question that this page does not settle. It gives general information and is not legal advice.
Checking a company that says it is a Montreal AI firm
- Search the company name in Quebec's enterprise register, which is free to use and shows registration status, addresses, and officers.
- Ask which product contains machine learning, and whether the firm trains models or calls another company's.
- Look for a primary announcement for any funding or acquisition claim, such as a press release from the buyer or a regulatory filing.
- Treat employee and customer counts from a company's own site as self-reported.
- For services that make decisions about people, ask how the firm meets Quebec's automated decision notice.
FAQ
Is there an official list of AI companies in Montreal?
None was found that is both current and independently audited. Investment agencies and industry bodies publish counts, but each uses its own definition and date.
Is Mila a company?
No. Mila describes itself as an academic research center for deep learning, and it became a nonprofit organization in 2018. Companies work with its researchers, but it is not one of them.
Did Google or Microsoft buy Montreal AI firms?
Microsoft agreed in 2017 to buy Maluuba. Google bought DeepMind, a London company, in 2014, and DeepMind later announced a Montreal lab in 2017.
Does Canada have a federal AI law that applies to Montreal firms?
Not one dedicated to AI as of October 27, 2026 per the sources checked. Quebec privacy law, federal privacy law, and sector rules apply, and a firm's lawyer is the right source for how they fit a specific product.
Related reading
- What happened to three Canadian AI companies after acquisition
- How the AI Index counts AI companies
- Which companies belong to the Frontier Model Forum
- What AGI companies say and what is documented
More in AI Tools and Industry.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 2026
- Main changes of Law 25, Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec, 2026
- About Mila, Mila, accessed October 2026
- DeepMind announcement on Canadian research and a Montreal office, Google DeepMind, October 6, 2017
- Artificial intelligence update: DeepMind opening laboratory in Greater Montréal, Montréal International, October 6, 2017
- Microsoft acquires Maluuba, press coverage of the announcement, January 13, 2017
- ServiceNow completes acquisition of Element AI, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP deal summary, February 2021
- About Scale AI, Scale AI, accessed October 2026
- Find an enterprise in the Enterprise Register, Gouvernement du Québec, 2026