PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Alex Olson

Alex Olson is an applied AI researcher and director of CARTE, the University of Toronto Engineering centre that connects organizations, faculty and students to put AI into practice. He completes an MASc in 2020 with work on latent modelling of urban data, then supports AI research and teaching at the university. His work includes a study that uses Street View images to estimate building attributes and a GenAI literacy course project for instructors. As of October 2026, he directs CARTE and teaches AI workshops to learners from many backgrounds.

Works
15
Citations
110
h-index
5

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2020

    An MASc in urban data

    He completes an MASc in 2020 with work on latent modelling of urban data at the University of Toronto's Data-Driven Decision Making Lab.

  2. August 2024

    A GenAI public talk

    At Civic Tech Toronto's August 2024 event, he discusses recent generative AI developments and their ethical, moral and economic implications. He describes himself as an AI-skeptic AI researcher.

  3. By May 2025

    Building attributes from Street View

    By May 2025, he is a co-author on a study that uses Google Street View images and machine learning to estimate building age and area. The team's model reaches 70% accuracy for age prediction and 80% accuracy for area prediction.

  4. 2025

    GenAI literacy course modules

    For summer/fall 2025 courses, he is listed on the DLI project team for a GenAI Literacy Course Modules initiative. The project aims to give instructors customizable materials to develop students' GenAI literacy.

  5. March 2026

    AI tools for research

    In March 2026, he presents a hands-on workshop on AI-assisted analysis for quantitative researchers as Acting Head of CARTE. He leads international partnerships, graduate exchange programs and industry AI collaborations while teaching deep learning and supporting technical research.

  6. As of October 2026

    Director of CARTE

    As of October 2026, he is Director of CARTE, the applied AI centre at U of T Engineering. He works with researchers across the university to apply AI in new fields and teaches AI workshops for learners from many backgrounds.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of TorontoDirector of CARTE
  2. University of TorontoActing Head of CARTE

Education

  1. 2020University of TorontoMASc

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Alex Olson yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Members | Data-Driven Decision Making Lab d3m.mie.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Meetup #455 – What's going on with GenAI? civictech.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Eyes on the street: Harnessing Street View images to ‘peer into’ structures news.engineering.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Gen AI Literacy Initiative ocw.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Hands-on Workshop: Applying AI Tools for Quantitative Data Analysis – Mar. 24 2026 cris.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Announcing the Toronto Open Data Awards Winners (2025-2026) - City of Toronto Open Data Portal open.toronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. About | Carte - University of Toronto carte.utoronto.ca. Checked 27 October 2026.