“AI is really on the front of every page—people have a lot of questions,” said Christian Labonville, director of information technology with the Maritime Employers Association, in response to my colleague Murad’s question on whether AI has become a more active topic in labour discussions. (The Logic)

Talking point: Executives from some of Canada’s biggest companies took the stage at Montreal’s All In artificial intelligence conference Thursday, addressing concerns over AI’s potential impact on jobs. Many said that the goal of adopting the technology is not simply to eliminate roles, but to optimize productivity or free workers for more advanced tasks. ​​Dominique Malenfant, CN Rail’s chief information and technology officer, spoke about how the railroad is using AI for track inspections, meaning workers don’t have to walk entire tracks themselves and can instead focus on repairs. “We see AI as a tool,” Malenfant said. “It will augment humans and make the job … more impactful and increase productivity.” Matthieu Houle, CIO of shoe retailer Aldo Group, said it’s not just workers who need to get used to AI’s “superpowers.” “At the exec level, you have to manage expectations because they’re thinking that all of a sudden this is the silver bullet that’s going to do everything.”