Google believes artificial intelligence could add $210 billion to the Canadian economy.
Google’s Economic Impact Report, released Tuesday, shows generative AI could add eight per cent of gross value to the country, while saving the average Canadian worker 100 hours a year, based on a third-party poll and a sample of Canadian businesses.
“Canada is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity, but we have to go after it,” Sam Sebastian, vice president and Canada country manager of Google Cloud, said during an AI press roundtable event Tuesday.
“We have to bold, we have to be responsible, but I think it’s a huge opportunity for this country.”
Sebastian added that Canada’s tech sector can take advantage of an AI boom because of its tech workforce, indicating that Toronto has the largest concentration of AI startups in the world, while Montreal has the largest concentration of AI researchers in the world.
Google, which has labelled itself as an “AI first” company since 2015, has begun ramping up its AI investment product stream, including video editing software for creators and expanding its ChatGPT rival Bard into a suite of its products. Bard is now available in 230 countries and territories, though Canada is not one them.
“We see AI as the most important way to deliver on our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible,” Sebastian said.
CANADIAN FIRMS ALREADY TAKING ADVANTAGE
David Fleet, a research scientist with Google DeepMind, said AI adoption among businesses has seen 150 times more projects using generative AI between April and July.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said during the roundtable. “We haven’t seen anything like that before.”
Though recent data from Toronto Metropolitan University found just four per cent of Canadian companies are using AI, Fleet said several major firms are making the AI shift.
CN Rail, for example, is building an AI-powered platform to offer insights into simplifying the supply chain, while Shopify is using AI to help fix “search abandonment,” where customers leave a site if they can’t easily find the item they’re looking for.
JOB IMPACTS
Even though AI can streamline business operations, Sebastian said he doesn’t necessarily believe the technology will lead to job cuts.
“With any technology innovation you’re going to see impacts on jobs and how those work, but in general … if anything it’s going to enhance, especially the more straightforward remedial tasks the typical work has to do on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
