The 2024 Canadian Undergraduate Conference on AI (CUCAI) took place on campus on March 2 and 3rd. This non-for profit Queen’s event is Canada’s largest undergraduate conference on AI, growing in scale and impact every year since its inception in 2018.
The 2024 CUCAI was the largest conference to date, with a record 340 delegates and 10 industry partners, as well as participants from close to 20 universities.
Queen’s School of Computing is a proud supporter of this incredible initiative. With the help of alumni donations, QSC was able to contribute a grant that helped 22 Queen’s students attend the conference! Some of their testimonials have been highlighted in this article.
We asked some of the organizers of CUCAI 2024 to share their experiences of the event, and describe what they believe has lead to CUCAI’s growing success.
Note: if you’re interested in contacting the CUCAI team for future sponsorships, you can reach them at chair@cucai.ca
Marcelo Chaman Mallqui, President of CUCAI 2024
What made this year’s event so special?
This year’s success was a function of many things.
A big contributor was our team’s ability to learn from the successes & failures from last year’s conference. CUCAI 2023 was an amazing success within itself and gave us insight as to what worked best so we could double down on it. For example, our Student Partner program guarantees the leading AI organizations at different schools an opportunity to attend and present their project at CUCAI 2024 in return for marketing exposure and a set number of guaranteed attendees. Compared to last year, our program doubled in size, leading to more schools funding their students to attend.
Secondly, our team this year was relentless in our attempts to make this conference the best it could possibly be. Following in the footsteps of a successful year, we recognized the opportunity to capitalize on that momentum and bring CUCAI to an international stage. The efforts paid off, and we were able to bring in students from the US and Chilé.
Lastly, a major component of our success this past year was opportunity and timing. Artificial Intelligence is taking the world by storm, and undergraduates are breaking barriers now more than ever. Given this, our job was simple: give them a place to come together, and find industry leaders who could empathize with the students’ passions.
What are your key takeaways on the future of AI in Canada?
If one thing can be drawn from the insights of our key speakers, it is that the state of AI in Canada is more exciting than ever. We heard from voices spanning the financial industry (RBC, Wealthsimple), cutting-edge AI companies (OpenAI, Cohere), and industry staples (Apple, Intel, EY). Delegates had the opportunity to network with these speakers and share their work at our AI design-team showcase, which brought over 70+ AI projects from across North America!
CUCAI is an entirely student-run event. How did you put together a strong executive team?
Our team got almost 50% smaller in size since last year. The increased ownership each of our team members had allowed them to feel more passionately about their contributions to our mission. Everybody on the team has the autonomy to make major decisions, and this untraditional nature of work enabled us to be very agile. We avoided having an organizational hierarchy, and worked everything out of one iMessage group chat to ensure everybody was in the loop at all times. We have an extremely scrappy team who cares very deeply about the work we do, and for this reason we were able to create a memorable event.
I’d send a special thank you to our core organizing team: Olivia Xu (Computing ‘24), Seth Grief-Albert (Applied Mathematics ‘26), Daniel Wang (Commerce ‘26), Rabab Azeem (Computer Engineering ‘25), Lejla Sain (Sheridan College, BBA ‘25).
Seth Grief Albert, Director of Strat. Partnerships, and Lejla Sain, Director of Partnerships
What can CUCAI future attendees expect in 2025?
One of our team’s main objectives is to ensure every conference we host is greater than the last. We strive to host a notable conference that brings together the brightest minds in AI from across Canada together. We encourage all students with an interest or passion for AI, regardless of their program, year, or school, to attend the conference.
During CUCAI 2025, attendees can expect to network, exchange ideas, and present AI advancements during the Project Showcase. CUCAI 2025 will feature noteworthy keynote speakers and host several sponsor booths during the conference, providing an opportunity for all attendees to network with company representatives, many of whom are actively recruiting for AI student talent.
Do NOT miss out on CUCAI 2025, as it’ll be an excellent opportunity to network and learn from industry leaders and experts in AI!
How do sponsor contributions contribute to the conference?
CUCAI owes its continued success to the generous support we have received from internal and external sponsors since our inception. Our core mission is to democratize access to AI for undergraduates in Canada and beyond. Our sponsors’ contributions are instrumental in realizing this vision. Sponsorship plays a crucial role in enabling us to subsidize ticket costs and offer grants to underrepresented groups to showcase their passion for AI and disruptive technology.