Members of Canada's tech community say they're worried the country is adopting artificial intelligence too slowly.A man uses a computer keyboard in Toronto in a Sunday, Oct. 9 photo illustration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme RoyTORONTO - Members of Canada's tech community say they're worried the country is adopting artificial intelligence too slowly, threatening its reputation as a leader in the sector, if the trend persists.
A study from consulting firm KPMG showed 35 per cent of Canadian companies it surveyed had adopted AI by last February. Meanwhile, 72 per cent of U.S. businesses were using the technology. Rather than never implementing the technology because these processes are so onerous, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's vice-president of strategic policy and global partnerships said these companies should start with small, manageable uses of AI.Tomi Poutanen, the head of Toronto-based AI health company Signal 1, added adoption can also be hard because of regulatory requirements and funding.
“All hospital beds will be filled all the time, no matter what you do for discharge. There's no incentives for a hospital to pay money to run a more efficient, better quality health care system,” Poutanen continued. She added governments should offer incentives to domestic companies who buy Canadian AI because “we've heard from Canadian companies that a lot of their business is outside of Canada.”