Atlantic Canadian students take the lead in innovation with AI2Market

Dalhousie University launched a program to put Atlantic Canadian students at the centre of innovation and ethics as artificial intelligence transforms industries worldwide.

Open to post-secondary students across the region, AI2Market aims to show how AI can be used for entrepreneurship while asking students to consider the moral, social and professional implications of relying on it.

AI2Market is developed in partnership with Dal Innovates, Lab2Market and ShiftKey Labs. 

Dal Innovates is an entrepreneurship ecosystem which helps students and faculty create businesses. Lab2Market is a set of programs utilized by researchers for entrepreneurial gain, and ShiftKey Labs is an organization that enhances tech skills for students across Atlantic Canada. 

Lab2Market runs a three-step training process: discover, validate and launch. AI2Market adapts those principles to emphasize how AI can shorten timelines while raising questions about responsibility.

That approach appealed to Vansh Sood, a fourth-year Dalhousie student from New Delhi, who helped shape the program. He saw how traditional approaches often slowed entrepreneurs.

“I see AI as a tool that we can use to progress faster,” says Sood.

Sood has already put his AI skills to use. His most recent venture, Bean, is an app that generates quick and easy meals for busy people.

Dalhousie will add AI2Market to its curriculum this fall. Four applied computer science courses will utilize the program in the classroom.

But Sood warns about the potential of becoming overreliant on AI.

“AI will make your brain lazy if you overuse it,” he says.

Rick Nason, an associate professor of finance in Dalhousie’s faculty of management, says many students are “naive” in their use of AI, treating it as a shortcut without questioning ethical trade-offs.

He compares today’s AI debates to those surrounding the internet in the 1980s.

“AI is replacing a lot of the white-collar apprenticeship work our commerce and MBA students normally do,” Nason says. “If you go through using AI as a crutch, you can’t help but say, is this piece of paper really worth it?”

For Sood, the program is a chance to embrace AI while keeping human creativity in the driver’s seat. He draws parallels to the Industrial Revolution, when jobs were lost, but new ones emerged.

“We as students, who are starting businesses or are in any other field, need to leverage AI as if it’s second nature to us,” he says.

The balance between efficiency and ethics is what sets AI2Market apart. The program frames AI not only as a technical skill, but also as a question of responsibility.

“The number one thing you learn in entrepreneurship is how to pivot,” Nason says. “It’s not about being the smartest person or having the best connections. It’s about knowing when to step and when to pivot. That’s something you can’t fully teach, and that’s something this program is going to have to do.”