Alex Labarces
Alex Labarces is president and co-founder of Quintix AI, a company focused on delivering artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions that are powered by AWS (Amazon Web Services) to help companies automate and streamline operations, extract insights, predict outcomes, augment and enhance decision making, and increase their bottom line. He is responsible for developing the vision and creating the products, services, and solutions that Quintix AI delivers to the market. As a technology expert with over 15 years of experience, a degree in physics and computer science, and nanodegrees in artificial intelligence, Alex is also directly involved in the actual science and technical development of all products and solutions via the client and their internal teams.
“Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and adoption is growing rapidly. Companies that postpone leveraging AI and integrating it into their workflows and culture will face serious challenges competing in the marketplace in 5 to 7 years’ time.”
Alex co-founded Quintix AI in 2019 in Montreal and the company focuses on four key areas: computer vision, natural language understanding, IOT (Internet of Things) solutions, and security.
Computer vision is an inter-disciplinary field related to a computer model’s ability to recognize objects found in images or videos and gain a high-level understanding of their content. The goal of the AI/ML model is to recognize events of interest, proactively learn, and improve its performance over time.
Natural language understanding (NLU), or natural language processing (NLP), deals with the ability of a computer system to comprehend language. For example, if a machine learning (ML) model was trained to process a live conversation, it could transcribe it, translate it, extract meaning, and compile analytics allowing the people involved to focus on having the conversation and not notetaking.
IOT solutions relates to small devices that can be embedded anywhere. “This can be a camera, sensors in your car or offices, even your fridge. Doesn’t matter where you embed them, the devices can be configured to communicate amongst themselves, and intelligent systems can then extract, receive, and process that data. Smart homes or smart public transportation services are examples of this technology at work,” he explains.
The company’s security efforts focus on leveraging computer vision models and predictive algorithms, to help monitor different areas of interest for its clients. These solutions can help companies automatically detect manufacturing issues, streamline quality control operations, and ensure that staff members are compliant with personal protective equipment (PPE) directives.
Prior to opening Quintix AI, Alex enjoyed a 15-year career in the tech and AI industry, which currently includes the role of senior AI practice head (Canada) for the AI Innovation Consortium, an organization based in the U.S. that focuses on the development of AI solutions for the global marketplace. Alex is also a member of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association. His interest in technology began with his first computer program at just nine years old and he then went on to create his own websites. His love for computers and tech grew into a lifelong passion that led him to his bachelor’s degree from McGill University followed by a successful career in the space. His career began in the web services industry, where he focused on helping grow and develop companies through the use of websites, integrated systems, and achieving a high return on investment (ROI). From there, he delved into the AI space through client projects, which ultimately led to the launch of Quintix AI. He has been in the AI/ML space for the last six years.
In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Alex holds nanodegrees as an AI product manager and AI programming with Python from Udacity, a certificate in scaling ventures, business administration and management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and successfully completed his Canadian Securities Course from the Canadian Securities Institute.
“It’s all about clear and measurable business objectives. AI is science it isn’t magic, and it must help methodically solve a specific business challenge your company is facing. Too many initiatives fail because this simple fact is overlooked.”
Alex Labarces
President — Quintix AI
Download the Top 100 Canadian Professionals magazine and check out Alex's feature on page 84.