TLDR: A new analysis by Scale AI projects that Canada’s economy could see a significant boost of $26.5 billion in productivity if businesses across key sectors fully embrace generative artificial intelligence to complement their workforce. This comes amidst concerns over Canada’s historically slow adoption of digital technologies.
TORONTO — Canada’s economy stands to gain an impressive $26.5 billion in increased productivity if businesses in critical sectors fully integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their human workforce. This projection comes from a new analysis commissioned by Scale AI, a Montreal-based AI cluster backed by the federal government, with the research conducted by Deloitte. The analysis specifically quantifies the potential gains in output across 13 major industries, assuming a comprehensive deployment of available generative AI tools.
This economic opportunity arises against a backdrop of what the Bank of Canada has termed a national productivity ’emergency,’ largely attributed to Canadian businesses’ historical reluctance to adopt new digital technologies. While the Deloitte analysis forecasts that firms will eventually reach full generative AI usage by 2044 at their natural pace, Scale AI CEO Julien Billot emphasized the urgency of accelerated adoption. ‘The sooner you can get that productivity, the better for the country,’ Billot stated, highlighting the financial benefits of a quicker transition.
Beyond this specific projection, broader reports underscore AI’s transformative potential for Canada. One such report from December 2024 indicated that AI could boost Canada’s economy by a staggering $230 billion and save the average worker 175 hours per year . Key sectors like financial institutions, telecommunications, retail, and healthcare are already seeing the impact of AI. For instance, Dollarama has successfully used AI to support customer service agents by summarizing thousands of calls, saving employees significant time per call . The healthcare sector in Nova Scotia is also investing in AI for natural language search and accelerating X-ray diagnostics . The future of telecommunications networks is also envisioned to be ‘AI-native,’ leveraging generative AI for full automation to lower costs and enhance scalability .
Public sentiment in Canada reflects a growing engagement with generative AI. A report from April 2025 revealed that two-thirds of Canadians (66%) have experimented with GenAI tools, less than three years after ChatGPT’s public debut. However, only about 30% use these tools daily or weekly for leisure, work, or study. This widespread experimentation is tempered by significant public unease regarding ethics, privacy, and job security. A notable knowledge and skills gap exists, with only 38% of Canadians feeling confident in their ability to use GenAI effectively or keep pace with its rapid developments . Concerns also extend to the newsroom, where a majority believe AI is already used for editing (57%), translation (56%), and data analysis (51%), with 43% even thinking AI writes entire articles . Election anxiety is also prevalent, with 67% worrying that GenAI could sway election outcomes .
Enterprises globally are also signaling a strong commitment to AI. A July 2025 report indicated that 72% of enterprises plan to increase their spending on large language models (LLMs) in 2025, with nearly 40% expecting investments to exceed $250,000 annually . Productivity and innovation are cited as primary drivers, with 46% of businesses viewing AI as a tool to streamline tasks like coding and documentation, and 36% anticipating new job opportunities from AI adoption. However, challenges such as security concerns, cost management, and integration complexities remain significant hurdles . Marco Palladino, CTO of Kong, noted that ‘AI adoption is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, and organisations that can keep up will have a clear competitive edge’ .
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Looking ahead, the AI landscape is evolving beyond generative AI to ‘agentic AI,’ which involves LLM-powered systems capable of autonomously performing iterative actions and reasoning to achieve goals . While still in early stages and facing challenges, agentic AI is seen as the next frontier, with potential applications in areas like customer service and HR, further reshaping the future of work and economic growth.
