“No AI Can Replace Talent”: At MTL Connect, ALEIA’s Founder Calls for Sovereign, Human-Centred AI

As a major partner of MTL Connect, ALEIA also designed the event’s web platform

MONTREAL, Oct. 27, 2026 /CNW/ — Yacine Hanaya, founder and president of Montreal-based agency ALEIA, urged entrepreneurs to make AI a lever for their teams rather than a means of replacing them. He spoke as guest of honour at the 8th edition of MTL Connect: Montreal’s Digital Week, held October 13 to 16 at the SAT under the theme of digital sovereignty, where he also sat on the jury of the MTL tech Awards, Innovation category.

A Case for Sovereign, Human-Centred AI

At the October 14 panel on AI in organizations, Yacine Hanaya emphasized the sovereign dimension of AI, as models, infrastructure and computing power become concentrated in the hands of a few global giants. He called for reliable national players and reminded entrepreneurs of their responsibility: the true cost of AI and its negative externalities, particularly environmental ones, are not being billed.

“A services company is first and foremost made up of women and men. Seeing AI as a mere way to inflate margins at the expense of one’s teams is something I don’t understand, and I refuse to be associated with it. It is a double failure. Strategic, first, because no AI can replace the talent, the judgment and the trust a client places in a team. Moral, second, because behind every job cut are lives being broken,” said Yacine Hanaya.

For him, AI is an accelerator. Available to everyone, it will always leave it to the women and men of each company to stand out through their creativity, their expertise and a better use of the tool. It therefore requires supporting teams toward tasks of understanding and reflection. The same demand applies in the classroom: “The world will be more demanding of our students than it was of us. It took us years before we were asked to recommend, to persuade and to arbitrate. They will have to do so from the very start of their careers.” He also invited 27 of his students from ESG UQAM and HEC Montréal to the event.

A Platform Worthy of the Event

Present on site with its own booth, ALEIA above all worked upstream, designing the MTL Connect platform: simple, modern and true to the event’s humanist values. It was a real challenge: more than 200 speakers, an artistic programme, business meetings, the MTL tech Awards and international delegations, all within four days. “We had to make all of this richness accessible online, without ever sacrificing simplicity,” explained Yacine Hanaya. ALEIA also built the website of Printemps Numérique, the organizer of MTL Connect.

“I have been taking part in MTL Connect for several editions, and the event remains unique: it brings together art, creativity, technology, academia and institutions, with a humanist perspective rooted in societal issues. Nearly 40 countries, from Belgium to Senegal, were represented. Many business meetings take place there, and they often turn into concrete opportunities. The event reflects the kindness of its co-founder, Mehdi Benboubakeur, and his teams,” said Yacine Hanaya.

About Yacine Hanaya

An engineer from INSA Toulouse and a graduate of ESSEC Business School, Yacine Hanaya began his career in audit and consulting at Groupe BPCE, before co-founding and then selling technology companies. A former president of La French Tech Montreal, he teaches at ESG UQAM and HEC Montréal, invests in startups and volunteers as a mentor to future entrepreneurs.

About ALEIA

Founded in 2019 by Yacine Hanaya, ALEIA is a digital and creative agency that designs websites, mobile applications, custom platforms and AI solutions for clients such as Ludia, Bota Bota, Université Laval and Dalet. Based in Old Montreal, it relies on teams in Canada, France, the United States, Morocco, Tunisia and Qatar. It also develops digital tools for nonprofits, in whole or in part at its own expense, including Médecins du Monde Canada, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR), the Archery Foundation and the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique. aleia.io

SOURCE ALEIA