In published remarks to the Ottawa Economics Association and Canadian Association for Business Economics spring conference, External Deputy Governor Michelle Alexopoulos said the Bank of Canada sees artificial intelligence as a potential driver of structural change in productivity, growth, employment, inflation and financial stability, but that it is still too early to know whether it will become a full economy-wide general-purpose technology. The Bank is nevertheless seeing enough early evidence of gains to incorporate limited AI-related productivity improvements into its projections and estimates of potential output. The speech cited faster but uneven adoption in Canada, with Statistics Canada data showing the share of businesses using AI rising from about 3% in 2022 to around 12% in 2025, ranging from 1.5% in accommodation and food services to more than 30% in finance and insurance. Survey evidence presented by the Bank suggests AI is mainly being used to automate routine tasks and support writing, data analysis and decision-making rather than replace workers on a large scale. Almost 90% of AI-adopting firms reported no staffing effect, around 4% reported job creation and about 6% reported employment declines linked to AI use. Alexopoulos also pointed to a sharp increase in upstream AI investment, with AI-related spending by top US technology firms rising from roughly USD 200 billion in 2024 to about USD 400 billion in 2025, and noted that the Bank itself uses AI and machine learning for forecasting, text and sentiment analysis, and financial stability monitoring while monetary policy decisions remain under human control.
Bank of Canada 2026-05-13
Bank of Canada says Canadian business AI adoption has risen to around 12% and limited productivity gains are in projections
The Bank of Canada’s External Deputy Governor Michelle Alexopoulos said the Bank views artificial intelligence as a potential driver of structural change in productivity, growth, employment, inflation and financial stability, and is beginning to incorporate AI-related productivity gains into its projections of potential output. She highlighted rapid but uneven AI adoption in Canada, with most firms using AI to automate routine tasks and support analysis rather than replace workers, and noted that the Bank uses AI and machine learning for forecasting, text and sentiment analysis, and financial stability monitoring while keeping monetary policy decisions under human control.