In virtually all organizations, AI adoption in the Canadian workplace is accelerating. But Canada still trails behind the US and other OECD countries in deep business integration. The immediate challenge is to move from simply trying AI to embedding it into workflows, customer service, IT, back office, and, most importantly to us at Redwood, Learning & Development (L&D).
Key AI Milestones Over the Past Year
According to Statistics Canada, as of Q2 2025, Canada had doubled its business AI use over the past year. 12.2% of businesses said they had used AI to produce goods or deliver services, up from 6.1% a year earlier. That’s solid momentum, and it continues to grow.
However, “deep use” remains modest: A Bank of Canada report from early 2026 found that only 8% of businesses reported significant AI use in operations. So, while many are dabbling, few are integrating AI to significantly modify work processes.
The Anticipated Headcount Reduction Simply Hasn’t Happened
The latest stats confirm that among businesses already using AI, 89.4% say that employment levels haven’t changed despite AI implementation. But 40.1% say they have used AI to develop new workflows. And of particular interest to the L&D community, 38.9% have trained current staff to use AI.
The impact on employment will likely be more evident, as more organizations use AI enterprise-wide to redesign corporate functions and processes. With such transformative change occurring in the space of just one year, imagine what the next 12 months will bring!
As an organization committed to staying at the forefront, we spend a great deal of time positioning ourselves for the current transformation. Here is a sneak peek at the overarching trends that we believe AI will bring in the next year:
AI Use in Canadian Workplaces Will Reach 19% by mid-2027
AI adoption is quickly increasing. However, approximately two-thirds of Canadian businesses still lack a plan for integrating AI into their systems and processes. For the L&D industry, I believe this represents a significant opportunity to offer our expertise in consultative and hands-on roles.
Current uptake suggests that the information, financial, and professional services industries will be leading adopters over the next few years. Redwood has deep experience in these sectors, and our recent project work with these clients aligns with this projection.
Get ready for the next wave: AI agents
Agentic AI systems go beyond merely generating content. As noted in a previous blog post, this transformative technology can make astute decisions, use tools, follow steps, and adjust as events unfold. Little wonder why Stanford’s AI Index says that global corporate AI investment hit $581.7 billion in 2025. That’s up 130% year over year, and much of that investment is going into agentic AI.
A McKinsey survey found that 23% of companies were already scaling agentic AI systems. Moreover, another 39% were experimenting. The implications for employee training are profound. Agentic AI coaches can guide learners through individually designed coursework in real time, act as role-play coaches, or create powerful, immersive and interactive simulations (these technologies are already driving careerforceskills.com, one of Redwood’s innovative online training platforms).
In North America, AI Use Will Shift From Generic Content Generation to Workflow Automation
Within the next year, significantly more organizations will integrate AI into core workflows rather than use it as a standalone tool. Leading use cases are virtual agents, data analytics, text analytics, marketing automation, customer service automation, and knowledge management.
While some in our industry may view this as a threat, we see it as an opportunity to supercharge L&D. Organizations are just waking up to the costs of “workslop,” AI-assisted output that is poor quality and drains corporate resources to fix, which is precisely why L&D expertise in learning, behaviour, and human performance is critical to training programs. Here are five additional reasons:
Five Additional Reasons Why L&D Should Lead the Next Phase
First, organizations today are drowning in data. Our expertise is turning raw content into usable knowledge. While AI can retrieve information in the blink of an eye, it takes L&D expertise to organize, structure and design it so employees can actually understand, trust, and apply it in their workflow.
Second, L&D professionals have the skills to build role-specific AI literacy. A recent McKinsey report found 48% of employees rank the lack of training as the most important factor for not using AI. That certainly helps to explain the relatively slow uptake of AI adoption in Canadian workplaces. In essence, the gap is no longer access to AI; it’s knowing how to use it effectively and productively.
Third, LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report notes that the skills lost to attrition are the hardest to replace. L&D professionals know how to capture expertise before it walks out the door. Moreover, they can translate key human skills into practical, accessible knowledge that employees can access as required in the workplace.
Fourth, L&D professionals can use data to quickly identify capability gaps by analyzing quiz responses, search data, and performance metrics. Once identified, gaps can be quickly closed through targeted upskilling tailored to each learner’s needs. Here again, professional L&D oversight ensures that training is delivered where and when it is needed most.
Fifth, L&D professionals can help drive adoption. AI use in Canadian workplaces will only succeed when employees use it, trust it, and know when other alternatives offer a more productive solution.
For these and a host of other reasons, I feel very optimistic about the future. AI adoption in the Canadian workplace is here to stay. And L&D professionals have a strong role to play in leading the next phase!