Tech Update: How Canadian businesses can implement AI efficiently and ethically

According to a report released last week by commercial real-estate firm CBRE, Toronto ranks fourth in North America for tech talent, due in no small part to the fact that the GTA has become a hotbed for AI innovation. But though there may be ample momentum driving the development of this tech, when it comes to wider adoption of AI, Canada is falling behind its peers. This lag is worrisome for those considering the country’s economic and intellectual future: slow adoption could curtail the growth of any business looking to expand internationally, and there could be a major brain drain as AI-savvy talent is drawn to regions where there is more demand for this skill set.
“It’s very Canadian to be risk conscious,” says Mark Daley, chief AI officer at Western University. It will take time, he says, for any company that hasn’t anticipated the advent of AI and built it into its existing business model to line up its ducks before plunging headlong into implementing this tech. To be sure, there are benefits to this slow approach. It means employers can work through some lingering questions — ethical concerns around data and privacy, adhering to government regulations that are evolving in real time, shoring up enough compute power — before employees are compelled to adopt AI. On the other hand, adds Daley, there are opportunity risks: companies that take too long to adopt new technologies will be left behind. “It’s economics 101: if your competitors are more efficient, they are going to outcompete you,” he says.
When it comes to upskilling and implementing AI efficiently, small- and medium-sized businesses are struggling the most, says Cindy Gordon, CEO of SalesChoice, a platform that specializes in AI-powered sales and employee wellness insights. This factors into the delay in adoption in Canada, where so many companies are relatively small. According to Gordon, who was recently named CEO of the Year in Ethics and AI, the first step toward implementation involves educating boards to develop the best business strategy related to this tech. That could mean hiring a consultant or enrolling executives in specialized courses. Smaller businesses looking to implement AI more effectively may need the assistance of a third-party vendor — like Ecomtent, a startup that helps e-commerce companies adapt to customers using voice-to-text AI options rather than keywords to search for products.
Ultimately, the onus is on business leaders to “learn what AI is the way they had to learn what a profit statement or a balance sheet was,” Gordon says. “This is a serious development with a new language, new approaches, new methods.” But those same leaders must balance the impetus to integrate new tech with the need to do so responsibly. As Daley notes, if you worry too much about opportunity risk and become consumed with the need to keep up with competitors, “you make all sorts of terrible decisions.”
According to experts, the 2024 wildfire season in Canada was among the six worst the country has seen in the past century. The (slightly) better news: this summer’s fires weren’t as bad as anticipated — an improvement over 2023, which saw the worst wildfires in Canada’s history. 
While wildfires are undeniably devastating, they can serve an ecological purpose: historically, forest fires tend to destroy monocultures, areas dominated by a single species, which provides opportunities for more sustainable ecosystems to sprout up in their wake. But the intensifying blazes in recent years have jeopardized this delicate balance. Fires that burn too hot and grow too huge can decimate the land entirely: key nutrients are wiped out and the soil becomes inert, and the seeds that hold the hope of future plants can’t grow. And as the frequency of wildfires increases, the fallow period necessary for recovery vanishes in a billow of smoke.
Toronto-based Seedark — part of the newest Women in Cleantech cohort at MaRS — is working to preserve biodiversity by creating a marketplace for restoration ecologists to signal the need for certain seeds and for seed collectors to sell their supply to them. For CEO Blaine Pearson, this means providing ecologists with the ability to “think really critically about the species they want,” says Pearson.
Forest fires have destroyed massive tracts of land in this country — 13.1 million acres have burned to date in 2024. It’s important, says Pearson, to build up Canada’s seed supply to reforest burned areas and enable the restoration of ecosystems. Moreover, bolstering biodiversity could mitigate monocultures, which would help limit the spread of wildfires (tree plantations tend to burn more severely). By thinking critically about the types of plants that are being planted in restoration projects, and perhaps selecting for more fireproof species, Pearson suggests, “we can help build more resilient forests and more resilient ecosystems.”
Statistics Canada reports that young Canadians are struggling. One in 12- to 17-year-olds who described their mental health as “good” or “very good” or “excellent” in 2019 now categorize their psychological state as “fair” or “poor.” Given how difficult it can be to find effective therapeutic resources, there’s a marked need for new options, especially ones that are accessible and affordable. Innovators are looking to AI to help fill this gap. Doro and other apps feature bots that aim to replicate the experience of talk therapy, allowing users to “chat” with a virtual therapist that draws from a trove of mental-health data as well as information that the “patient” has previously shared. Companies, such as Unyte, use music and other sensory-based therapies to help users self-regulate. While these apps are powerful tools, they are supplementary support options for young people who are struggling, and should not be thought of as replacements for real, human therapists.
Supply-chain woes have derailed many companies reliant on sourcing materials from abroad. Not only that, shipping components can lead to a hefty carbon footprint — bad news for businesses striving to clean up their act. Toronto-based Mosaic Manufacturing found a novel way to solve those puzzles — by printing the pieces much closer to home. Manufacturers can use the company’s highly sophisticated 3-D printers to produce customized bits and bobs for their own products. Thanks to a recently closed funding round, the startup now has $28 million that it plans to direct toward wider adoption of its automated nearshoring tech.
85 per cent: The proportion of Canadian CEOs who say they worry “all or most of the time” about climate change.
$35 million: The amount that Radiant Biotherapeutics, which created an antibody platform to deliver new therapies, has secured in Series A funding.
42 per cent: The proportion of workers in Canada who report feeling stressed about their finances on a daily basis, according to data from ZayZoon, a Calgary-based platform that provides employees with access to earned wages. In an effort to address this issue, ZayZoon is partnering with Scotiabank to extend the scope of its services through the Canadian market.
$21.8 million: The upfront payment biotech firm Ripple Therapeutics will receive as part of its newly announced deal with pharma giant AbbVie. The collaboration and option-to-license agreement between the companies will support the development of Ripple’s drug-delivery implant for glaucoma patients.
Rebecca Gao writes about technology for MaRS. Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, has partnered with MaRS to highlight innovation in Canadian companies.