Donald Trump’s provocations towards Canada have had a profound effect on how Canadians are thinking about policy and politics. Not only has it disrupted the political landscape, but one gets the sense that it has also expanded the Overton Window. Previously contentious or heterodox issues are now getting new attention.
Artificial intelligence may be one such example. AI technology is no longer the stuff of science fiction. It’s already having profound effects on our economy and society. Yet, as a new global survey from Google and Ipsos reveals, Canada has lagged behind other countries in the adoption and perception of AI.
This represents a barrier to technology-enabled progress. In an era of economic stagnation and flat productivity, Canada should see AI as a key means to boosting our economy and improving living standards. Realizing its potential, however, will require a shift in how we think about AI technology and the role of government policy.
The Ipsos survey, which polled more than 21,000 people across 21 countries, shows that global attitudes toward AI have shifted significantly in the past year. Excitement about AI’s potential now outweighs concerns about its risks, with 57 percent of respondents expressing optimism compared to 43 percent who remain wary. This trend is even more pronounced in emerging markets, where 77 percent of people are more excited than concerned.
In Canada, however, the picture is more nuanced. Canadians are generally optimistic about AI but their enthusiasm is tempered by what one might characterize as a cautious pragmatism.
Although more than 40 percent of Canadians report using generative AI in the past year—higher than the U.S. (29 percent) but below the global average (48 percent)—our excitement about AI’s potential remains muted. Only 42 percent of Canadians are excited about AI, compared to 57 percent globally, and we’re less likely to expect positive economic returns from the technology in the next five years.
The data tells a clear story: Canadians are cautious about AI. While we recognize its potential benefits—particularly in science, medicine, and education—we’re more concerned about its risks than our global counterparts. This apprehension isn’t without any justification. AI’s rapid development raises legitimate policy issues including privacy and ethics. But if we let these concerns paralyse us, we risk falling further behind in the global race to leverage AI’s economic and social benefits.
The good news is that Canadians who have used AI are more optimistic. Among those who have interacted with AI tools, 62 percent are excited about its potential, compared to just 39 percent who are concerned. This suggests that familiarity breeds confidence. The more Canadians engage with AI, the more they see its potential to improve their professional and personal lives.
The challenge then is to increase adoption and demystify AI for the broader population. A big part of this is presenting a charismatic narrative about AI technology and its potential to pull our economy and society into a more positive-sum future.
We definitely need it. Today something like seven in 10 Canadians believe that future generations will have lower living standards. Such overwhelming negativity risks becoming self-fulfilling. There’s urgent need to get at its root cause.
As others have argued, a major explanation for the malaise that hangs over Western populations is the lack of a positive vision of the future. It’s not surprising that people are feeling anxious about a future when the only visions on offer involve scarcity. Whatever one thinks of Greta Thunberg, most people don’t want to ride bikes and eat bugs.
As I’ve previously written, AI technology represents a different kind of future: one marked by abundance rather than scarcity.
As a general-purpose technology, AI’s benefits can extend across the economy. Its potential use cases in agriculture, energy, and mining, for instance, could provide a significant productivity boost in sectors for which Canada already has a comparative advantage. Greater AI adoption and deployment could be a key input into expanding our global market share in these industries. There are also of course huge benefits for education, health care, and other parts of Canadian life.
Realizing these gains will require a mindset shift. We must be prepared to adjust our thinking about risk. The goal of public policy cannot be overly precautionary. We want to minimize excessive risk rather than eliminate it altogether. A policy framework that overcompensates for risk invariably threatens to snuff the risk-taking inherent to innovation and progress.
At a time when Canada was already experiencing declining GDP per capita and now must confront a major economic threat from the United States, one cannot help but think that the risk-reward calculus for Canadian policymakers and the broader public may change. We may be more prepared to accept the trade-offs required for a future of abundance than we were mere months ago.
That would be a positive development. If we want to harness AI technology’s upsides, we need to overcome our collective apprehensions and take a bold step towards a different and better future.
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Sean Speer is The Hub's Editor-at-Large. He is also a university lecturer at the University of Toronto and Carleton University, as well…
