Canada’s workers are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence at work, but the scale of it depends on which field they are employed in, Statistics Canada said in a report released Thursday.
In March, just over one in three (35.9 per cent) of workers said they had used generative AI tools as part of their main job or business in the past 12 months, Statistics Canada said in a report titled “Use of generative artificial intelligence tools among Canadian workers.”
The report, which draws data from StatCan’s Labour Force Survey, said the vast majority of workers (93.4 per cent) are aware of generative AI tools, with more than half (51.5 per cent) saying they are familiar with how these tools are used.
StatCan divided professions into three streams for the purpose of the report. The first, high-exposure and high-complementarity professions, are those where AI is not only used, but can aid the work of the human employee.
This category includes professions like doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers. More than half of workers (53.8 per cent) in this category reported using AI tools at work.
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The second category is high-exposure and low-complementarity, where there is high AI usage and workers’ tasks are susceptible to being replaced by AI tools.
This includes jobs in retail sales, office support and software development and accounting. More than four in 10 (45.9 per cent) in this category said they use GenAI tools at work.
Low-exposure professions, where the work is least likely to be transformed by AI tools, reported the lowest AI use at 14.2 per cent. This includes professions in skilled trades, service jobs and first responders.
Management employees had the highest rate of AI use, with three in four (75.1 per cent) saying they use AI tools, followed by those working in natural and applied sciences (67.5 per cent).
AI use was lowest among those working in workers in trades, transport and equipment operators (14.7 per cent). Those working in natural resource, agriculture and related occupations (17 per cent) also had a relatively low rate of AI use.
AI use was highest among public sector employees (41.2 per cent), compared with those in the private sector (33.4 per cent) or those who were self-employed (39.6 per cent).
While workers are adopting AI tools, their use remains sporadic. Nearly two-thirds (63.5 per cent) of Canadian workers who’ve used AI in the last 12 months said they used it “moderately,” meaning they used AI for some, but not all, tasks.
Around a quarter (24.9 per cent) reported “minimal usage,” meaning they used it for almost no tasks.
Another 11.6 per cent reported “broad usage” of AI, with eight per cent saying they use these tools for most tasks and 3.6 per cent saying they use them for almost all tasks.
Just over three in 10 (31.4 per cent) of respondents who use AI tools regularly said they use them daily and another 38.3 per cent said they use these tools a few times per week.
Just over one in five users (21.7 per cent) reported using AI tools a few times per month, while 8.7 per cent used them a few times a year.
The use of generative AI at work varies by the age group of workers. The segment that used AI the most was core-aged workers, between the ages of 25 and 54. More than half (56.9 per cent) of core-aged workers reported using generative AI tools.
Among workers aged 55 and older, 45.3 per cent said they used GenAI tools. Nearly four in 10 youth workers (39.1 per cent) aged 15 to 24 reported using generative AI tools.
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