AI Adoption by Canadian Businesses

AI Adoption by Canadian Businesses

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab has released their report on the state of generative AI in Canada and how it will affect the future of our business landscape. Generative AI is any AI system that can create images, data or text using prompts provided by the user. The current use case for these systems is to fill in some of the productivity and labour gaps that remain in the business environment. This technology represents new opportunities for businesses and the BDL report provides some insight into which companies are most likely to adopt these systems. About 1 in 7 Canadian businesses have adopted generative AI in some form across all industries and regions. Of these early adopters, most of them are large businesses or businesses with highly educated workers. This report shows that nearly 3 in 4 businesses have not even considered using generative AI at all with 3 in 10 businesses reporting that difficulty hiring employees that know how to use the technology is the biggest barrier for adoption. This is an issue that should be resolved over time as the technology becomes more accessible for the average user. If we want these systems to become more widely adopted in order to overcome various labour and business challenges, the government must act in order to ensure that Canada becomes a leader in AI adoption and development. This would require further investment into the industry as well as changing the proposals for AI regulation in the country. The goal is not to replace workers in Canada, but rather to further enhance their productivity and keep Canada as a global technology leader.