Brendan Frey has always had what he calls an “entrepreneurial spirit.” The artificial intelligence researcher and startup founder was an amateur magician as a kid, and would regularly knock on doors to drum up an audience of 20 for his neighbourhood performances, making objects levitate, disappearing rabbits and doing card tricks.
That showmanship is perhaps why he found himself on the dock of Magna CEO Don Walker’s Muskoka cottage in July 2016, pitching glossy-browed bankers in the 29-degree mid-day sun on why artificial intelligence was worth pulling out their corporate chequebooks.
