AI adoption guide
The two numbers measure different things. This page puts each adoption measure in one place, with its source and its limits, then shows where use is concentrated and what holds businesses back.
Data updated . Next scheduled update by December 24, 2026.
Definitions
The five rates run from the narrowest measure to the broadest; government use has no single rate yet. Each comes from a different survey and date, so they should not be combined or read as one trend.
19.2%
AI used to produce goods or deliver services.
Best current headline number for business use; excludes informal worker use and early experiments. The strategy-launch baseline was 12.2% in Q2 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada, May 27, 2026
25.2%
Businesses expecting to adopt AI over the next 12 months.
Measures plans, not actual use. It also sits beside the much larger group reporting no adoption plan.
45%
Small-business use of generative AI for tasks such as drafting, marketing, ideation, or translation.
Broader than the official Statistics Canada number and based on a business-association sample surveyed in spring 2025.
Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, April 2, 2026
51%
Individual employees who report using generative AI at work.
Can include informal use that is not approved, measured, or managed by the employer.
Source: KPMG Canada, November 27, 2025
93%
Business leaders saying their organization uses AI in some form.
Can include experiments and pilots; only 31% said AI was fully built into their work and 2% reported measured return on investment.
Source: KPMG Canada, November 27, 2025
Thinly measured
Federal AI systems, strategy, register entries, and concrete examples.
Government strategy and registries show movement, but not a simple government-wide adoption rate.
Source: Government of Canada, March 2025
Sector split
Information-rich industries are above 30%, while some physical and service sectors remain well below the national rate.
Selected sectors, ranked, with the rate for all businesses highlighted for comparison.
Choose a sector and whether your organization uses AI. The result stays tied to the official business-use measure.
You are on the using AI side of a sector where 32.4% of businesses report official AI use, higher than the same-wave national business-use rate of 19.2% in the Q2 2026 official table.
Source: Statistics Canada, May 27, 2026Barriers
Two related questions from two surveys: what limits AI use across all businesses, and why businesses with no adoption plan stay out.
Share of all businesses, Q2 2026. Two in five say AI is not relevant to them.
Share of businesses with no plan to adopt AI in the next 12 months, Q3 2026. Relevance dominates.
The 60% target
The federal strategy aims for 60% of businesses using AI. Move the target to see the gap from the latest official business-use rate. It does not forecast economic gains.
Reaching 60.0% would be about 3.1x the latest official business-use rate of 19.2%. The strategy launch baseline was 12.2%. A 1.0% productivity uplift is a user-supplied sensitivity, not an AI Canada Pulse forecast.
Interpretation
AI use is growing, but lasting productivity gains depend on training, good data, workflow changes, and measurement.
An employee using ChatGPT or Copilot to draft text is real use, but it is not the same as a business using AI in production, service delivery, claims processing, logistics, or customer operations.
High executive survey numbers can include pilots, small team experiments, and loose tool use. They should not be read as proof that AI is built into the whole business.
Statistics Canada's survey is conservative. Private and association surveys often capture broader task use, prompted recognition of tools with AI features, or more digitally engaged respondents.
The strongest gains appear when AI is paired with good data, workflow redesign, staff training, and strong digital systems. Canada does not yet have clear economy-wide proof that AI is lifting productivity.
OECD and G7 comparisons are useful for direction, but business-size rules, time windows, and question wording differ by country. Treat them as context, not as one precise rank.
Sources
10 Statistics Canada, survey, evidence-review and government sources, each with its date and what it is best used for.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada AI use by businesses, Q2 2025
The strategy-launch baseline and historical comparison point for businesses using AI in the goods or services they provide.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada AI use by businesses, Q2 2026
The latest official current-use measure and sector table for businesses using AI in the goods or services they provide.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada AI use and barriers, Q2 2026
The latest official analysis for current business AI use, all-business relevance, cybersecurity/privacy barriers, and cost barriers.
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada expected AI use by businesses, Q3 2026
Businesses planning to use AI, and the reasons other businesses say they are not planning to use it.
KPMG Canada
Generative AI Adoption Index 2025
How employees use generative AI, what leaders say, training gaps, and return-on-investment warnings.
Canadian Federation of Independent Business
AI Adoption and Workforce Training Investment in Canada
Small-business task-level generative AI use, training behaviour, and AI investment, using CFIB's Q2 2025 and February 2026 survey evidence.
OECD
AI Adoption by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Comparison with other countries, while keeping method differences visible.
C.D. Howe Institute
From Hype to Output: How AI Investment Translates to Real Productivity Gains
Why strong AI lab work does not automatically turn into business use or productivity gains.
Stanford HAI
AI Index Report 2026
International money going into AI, public opinion, and global AI capability context.
Government of Canada
AI Strategy for the Federal Public Service 2025-2027
Federal public-sector AI strategy and examples of government AI use.