Machine Learning Toronto (MLTO) - April 2026
Agenda
6:00-6:30 PM Arrivals and Networking
6:30-7:00 PM Tech Talk #1
7:00-7:30 PM Tech Talk #2
7:30-8:30 PM Networking & Wrap-up
8:30 PM Tear-down and Departures
Talk #1
Dr. Ashwin Tumne, Vertex Advisors - AI for Inventors: Rethinking Agentic Systems for Innovation, Patents, Compliance and Product–Market Fit
What happens when an inventor needs a patent to secure the investment required for building a company to capture an emerging market in a regulated industry? For many R&D teams, there is a formidable barrier between discovery and real-world value. Most AI tools for patents are built for lawyers and optimized for workflow acceleration, overlooking the broader commercial challenges innovators face when trying to bootstrap new ventures in competitive and highly regulated environments.
In this talk, we explore why enabling true innovation requires a different paradigm for AI. Breakthrough ideas often involve knowledge both AI and inventor do not yet possess, contextual nuances legal workflows often overlook, and unknown risks neither inventors nor investors initially anticipate. When failure is not an option, the challenge becomes clear: How can AI systems be designed not merely to accelerate paperwork, but to surface hidden assumptions, expand the search space of innovation, and ensure nothing critical falls through the cracks?
Talk #2
Himanshu Joshi, CEO and Founder, COHUMAIN Labs - Domain Experts as the Missing Link in Enterprise Agentic AI
The bottleneck in enterprise agentic AI deployment isn't the technology; it's the absence of a professional role designed to govern the interface between autonomous AI and high-stakes human judgment. This talk introduces the "AI Connector," a domain expert with AI literacy who orchestrates human-AI workflows, dynamically calibrating when agents act freely and when human expertise must engage.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Ashwin Tumne is Founder and Principal of Vertex Advisors, an AI solutions firm focused on regulated industries and complex systems. His work centers on designing and delivering AI-driven platforms that translate complex data—across governance, finance, operations, and engineering—into decision-ready intelligence for risk mitigation, compliance, and opportunity capture. The firm’s recent focus has been the application of Simulative AI in patent law, innovation bootstrapping, trust engineering, and venture production.
Drawing on leadership experiences across organizations including KPMG, Scotiabank, and multiple venture-backed technology companies, Ashwin has built AI platforms, distributed trust architectures, and data systems for complex markets. He has led data and AI initiatives spanning financial services, e-commerce, enterprise platforms, and industrial systems, with a particular interest in how information asymmetry, trust, system design, and hidden bottlenecks shape real-world economic outcomes. In this talk, he will explore the emerging role of Simulative AI in patent law and venture production, and explain why a new AI paradigm is needed for industries where inventor, investor, customer, and regulatory failure risks are both high—and uncertain.
Himanshu Joshi is the Founder and CEO of COHUMAIN Labs, where he leads initiatives on collective intelligence between humans and machines. He spearheaded the development of SAFEALIGN AI, a platform focused on the safe, secure, and aligned deployment of agentic AI in enterprises. Previously, he served as Team Lead for Applied AI Projects at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, driving responsible AI initiatives that generated over $170 million in documented enterprise value across Fortune 500 organizations.
An internationally recognized thought leader in agentic AI, governance, and AI security, Himanshu has authored books and LinkedIn Learning courses on AI adoption and published over 15 peer-reviewed papers at leading venues including NeurIPS, ICLR, IEEE, AAAI, and ICDM. He serves as Program Chair for the AAAI 2026 AI Governance Workshop and contributes as a track lead and reviewer across major global AI conferences. He is also the recipient of the AI Ally of the Year 2025 (North America) – Special Jury Award.
Many thanks to our supporters and sponsors!
We'd also like to acknowledge our venue partners for generously providing their amazing space for the event, and PRAKTIKAI for making the event happen.
Speak or Support MLTO!
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Speaker Application Form: mlto.ca/speak
Sponsor Inquiry Form: mlto.ca/sponsor
Volunteer Application Form: mlto.ca/volunteer