Canadian businesses aren’t getting as deep into AI as firms in other countries, according to a new survey from Toronto-based financier Georgian.

Indicators of lag: The maturity of AI “appears to be lower in Canada” than elsewhere, the survey states. Georgian put firms into one of four categories—crawler, walker, jogger and runner—based on how significantly and well they’re using the technology. Canadian companies were far more likely to be in those early phases than international rivals, with half walking and just seven per cent running compared to 37 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively. 

Tech fixes: Canadian firms are quite comfortable using AI internally, but they’re keeping it away from customers. Firms in Canada match the global average in terms of automating parts of product design and development, code testing or even predictive maintenance of equipment. 

When it comes to dealing with customers using AI, Canadian firms are falling behind. Just 35 per cent of Canadian respondents said their firms were deploying chatbots and other AI customer service tools, compared to half of those in the rest of the world. 

Companies in Canada also trailed global rivals in using AI in sales and marketing. For example, fewer are using automated tools to do research on potential clients, competitors and products, or to identify the best leads to pursue. Canadian respondents were also much less likely to report that their firms use AI to create marketing material (55 per cent to 67 per cent) or send sales messages (45 per cent to 57 per cent). 

The reticence isn’t necessarily because firms are worried about what customers will think—only about a fifth of respondents cited customer acceptance and adoption of AI as a major concern. Firms are far more worried about privacy issues, with 79 per cent of Canadian respondents afraid that sensitive information will leak via an AI tool. That’s 14 percentage points higher than survey-takers elsewhere.

Market opportunity: Canadian firms’ IT departments are more likely to buy their AI tools instead of building them in-house (63 per cent versus 54 per cent in the rest of the world). Almost half of R&D executives said they can’t find the technical talent to move the technology from testing into full-on use.

The big picture: In April, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke started a trend of memos in which tech bosses told staff that they need to lean into AI, and shouldn’t expect more human colleagues for work that can be automated. The Georgian survey suggests other Canadian companies are taking a more gradual approach to AI.  

The source: Georgian asked 634 executives at companies with over US$1 million in annual recurring revenues about their firms’ use of AI. The survey included 201 Canadian respondents. Georgian’s investments include AI agent firm You.com and voice assistant startup PolyAI.