How many Canadian workers are using GenAI?

Despite the surging number of employers requiring workers to use generative artificial intelligence (GeAI) at work, only about a third of Canadian workers used the technology last year, according to a recent report.

And the adoption gaps by industry, age and gender mean HR professionals cannot assume a single training approach will reach every employee, noted Statistics Canada (StatCan).

Overall, 35.9 per cent of workers used GenAI tools at work in the 12 months to March 2026, out of 41.6 per cent who used any AI or automation technology.

Use was highest in professional, scientific and technical services (65.6 per cent) and lowest in accommodation and food services (16.3 per cent), the agency said.

StatCan grouped occupations by exposure to and complementarity with AI, finding 53.8 per cent use among high-exposure, high-complementarity roles such as doctors and engineers, compared with 14.2 per cent in low-exposure occupations such as skilled trades.

Hiring managers most often credit AI with higher company productivity (24 per cent), more resources for employees to build skills (23 per cent), and stronger creativity (22 per cent), according to a previous report.

However, 43 percent feel guilty using AI to produce work, a number that climbs to 56 percent among Gen Z employees, according to a separate study.

Age and gender gaps persist within similar jobs

Even within the same exposure category, use varied by age, StatCan found. Among high-exposure, high-complementarity workers, core-aged employees aged 25 to 54 reported 56.9 per cent use, compared with 39.1 per cent for youth aged 15 to 24.

Also, men were "on average more likely than women to use generative AI tools at work" across every exposure category.

The gap between men and women widened to 11.7 percentage points in high-exposure, low-complementarity occupations such as retail sales and accounting, the agency said, though it narrowed to almost nothing in low-exposure jobs.

Canadian employees who regularly use artificial intelligence tools spend nearly twice as much time working outside the office as peers who have not adopted the technology, revealing a growing split in what parts of their workforce expect from office space, according to a previous report.

Most non-users say tools do not apply

Nearly two-thirds of workers (64.1 per cent) did not use generative AI at work in the past year, StatCan said. The most common reason, cited by 56.0 per cent of non-users, was that the tools had no applicability to their job, a response more common among private sector employees than public sector workers.

However, a further 21.6 per cent said they had no interest in using the tools, while 9.8 per cent cited security, privacy, environmental or ethical concerns.

A previous report from Adaptavist found that 36 per cent of workers say they would remove GenAI tools from the world entirely if they had the chance. 

"These findings point to an underlying gap we see in most AI implementations. It is much easier for organizations to focus on adoption metrics – who is using AI, how often they are using it – than it is to measure its impact on the work itself,” says Neal Riley, AI innovation lead at The Adaptavist Group, in the report.

“By understanding the nature of the work and the different value streams across your business, you can more accurately measure outcomes and impact rather than simply counting actions. When AI is introduced thoughtfully, with the right guardrails and genuine support for the people using it, it can enhance rather than erode what makes work meaningful and impactful."