Planned AI adoption rose sharply between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, but progress remains highly uneven across industries. Knowledge-intensive sectors – such as information and cultural industries, finance and insurance, and healthcare – show the strongest gains, while several goods-producing and operational sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, and mining, show stagnant or declining expectations. This matters because AI adoption in goods-producing sectors is essential for cost efficiency, product and quality development, supply-chain optimization, and ultimately productivity.
To learn more about practical strategies for boosting AI adoption across Canadian industries, see this C.D. Howe Institute report.
