Jaxson Khan is CEO of Aperture AI, an AI services firm focused on enablement and strategy for corporations and governments, and a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, where he co-directs the AI Competitiveness Project. He has spent over a decade driving innovation and leading teams across the technology, non-profit, and government sectors.

He previously served as Senior Policy Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, where he played a pivotal role in the design of the $2.4 billion AI Sovereign Compute Strategy and advised on major reforms to the Competition Act. His portfolio also covered quantum, semiconductors, intellectual property, and innovation policy.

At the University of Toronto, he teaches a master’s course on digital transformation and AI policy and co-authored Sovereign by Design: Strategic Options for Canadian AI Sovereignty. He is a Board Director of the Human Feedback Foundation and sits on the AI Advisory Council of Venture for Canada.

Appearances and commentary

Jaxson is a frequent commentator on AI and technology policy and has appeared as an expert witness before committees of the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada. He has written for The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, and has been quoted or interviewed by CBC, The Globe and Mail, The Logic, and BetaKit. His podcast appearances include RBC Disruptors with Yoshua Bengio and Michael Geist’s Law Bytes. He also co-created and hosted AskAI, one of Canada’s first AI-focused podcasts.

He speaks regularly to government and industry leaders. Recent engagements include the Canada School of Public Service, where he has briefed senior public service executives on AI; the Source Canada Summit; the Canadian Internet Society’s AI strategy forum, broadcast on CPAC; BMO; and IBM Canada’s Defence and Intelligence Centre.

Additional background

Jaxson was Chief of Staff at LawAI, a global think tank on AI, law, and policy, where he helped secure millions of dollars in new grants and rapidly scale up the team across multiple countries.

Before government and policy work, he was Director of Growth at Fable, an accessibility technology company. He joined the leadership team at seed stage, built the marketing and business development teams, and helped grow the company from 10 to 50 people in under two years. Fable was covered by the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and The Globe and Mail.

Earlier, he led marketing at Nudge.ai, named Canadian AI Company of the Year in 2018 and later acquired by Affinity. Before that, he was Marketing Manager at Influitive, a Series B enterprise software company, where he rebuilt its public relations strategy. He was an early employee at Paddle HR, a talent technology startup later acquired by LinkedIn, and began his career at Microsoft in Toronto.

Jaxson co-founded Young Diplomats of Canada, a national non-profit that trains young professionals to lead delegations to global governance summits, including the G20, the UN, the OECD, and the World Bank and IMF.

His volunteer work includes the World Economic Forum community, the Banff Forum, Code for Canada, and Teach for Canada. He has also been a mentor at Techstars and an expert advisor to the Century Initiative.

He holds an Executive MBA from Quantic and a BA from Huron University, where he studied as a 3M National Student Fellow and received an Alumni Award of Distinction.