Generative AI could help reverse the decline in productivity and add nearly 2% to Canada’s gross domestic product if deployed correctly, according to a report by The Conference Board of Canada. The report found that 46% of Canadian organizations surveyed are already using generative AI, while 38% said they are exploring it. A majority also said generative AI would not reduce headcount.

“Canada is a leader in the discovery and creation of artificial intelligence, but we lag in adopting the technology at the organizational level,” Alain Francq, director of innovation and technology at The Conference Board of Canada, said in a press statement. “To take advantage of generative AI’s potential, Canadian businesses need to break out of their historic pattern of underinvesting in research and development and adopting emerging technologies to rectify the country’s productivity gap. The Pan-Canadian AI Strategy is a good start with its focus on commercialization, standards and research.”

Other findings in the report include:

• More than 90% of survey respondents said they weren’t sure about AI rules under current Canadian regulations.
• 63% of organizations noted that implementing AI would not reduce their headcount, while another 30% said they were not sure, and a few outliers predicted it would decrease the size of their workforce.
• In addition, more than half of the respondents using or exploring generative AI reported that a lack of technical expertise was holding them back from integrating it into their businesses. Yet only 29% of those firms said finding talent was a roadblock.
• Respondents who predicted no change to staffing numbers said that generative AI would make employees more productive when fulfilling their existing responsibilities and grant them more time to perform new tasks.

The survey, done in partnership with MaRS Discovery District, was conducted among 221 Canadian startups.