As recently as the 1990s, many physicians believed newborns didn’t feel pain the same way adults do. In some cases, major surgeries were performed on infants without anesthesia. Today, thanks to researchers like clinical psychologist Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell, we know better. But understanding and accurately measuring infant pain remains a complex challenge.
In neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), premature babies – some born as early as 22 weeks – can regularly undergo six or more painful procedures each day. These non-verbal patients can’t tell us how they feel, and human judgment, even from trained professionals, is often inconsistent. Unmanaged pain at this critical stage can alter brain development and affect a child’s health for life.
Harnessing AI for Real-Time Health Insights
Dr. Pillai Riddell, the York Research Chair in Pain and Mental Health and Director of the Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt (OUCH) Laboratory in the Department of Psychology of York University, is collaborating with computer scientists to train AI systems that can detect and monitor pain using brain activity (EEG), facial cues, heart rate and other physiological signals. Ultimately, her goal is to develop a bedside pain monitor that could provide care teams with real-time insight into a baby’s pain levels, helping them respond quickly and appropriately.
To build reliable AI models for this work, Dr. Pillai Riddell and her team need massive, secure and publicly accessible compute capacity capable of processing brain activity data measured in milliseconds and combining it with video and other sensitive health data – all while protecting private health information.
Dr. Pillai Riddell says this research isn’t just about science – it’s about infant rights, health equity and social justice. A sovereign AI compute system will ensure Canadian data serves Canadian priorities, enabling homegrown solutions to challenges as profound as the lifelong impact of pain on our most vulnerable citizens.
“As mental health professionals, we need to understand the best ways to integrate AI into our research,” says Dr. Pillai Riddell. “We can’t choose whether to adopt it – we can only choose how. With the right infrastructure and training, Canada can lead the world in using AI to protect and improve the lives of our smallest patients.”
Local Research with National Impact
Dr. Pillai Riddell is a member of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s (The Alliance) Researcher Council. The Alliance is bringing together researchers, government and industry to champion a national vision for scaled up, public, sovereign data and AI compute – the backbone of discovery and innovation in Canada.
Her work illustrates the transformative potential of public data and AI compute. Without robust, secure, Canadian AI compute, life-changing discovery and research risks being slowed, underfunded, or reliant on foreign infrastructure where data sovereignty and health equity cannot be guaranteed. With it, Canada can accelerate solutions that protect the most vulnerable, ensure ethical data stewardship, and train the next generation of AI and health leaders.
Our Nation-Building Moment: A Generational Opportunity for Canada
Like other critical public infrastructure, a national data platform and AI compute capacity would unlock critical benefits across health care, industry and society.
Through the Government of Canada’s Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, we have a generational opportunity to make this investment. By ensuring equitable access to scaled-up, public and sovereign AI infrastructure, we can help accelerate life-changing research like Dr. Pillai Riddell’s—while safeguarding Canadian values, protecting patient data and strengthening our nation’s global competitiveness.
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