Canadian polling firm Abacus Data recently released data from a survey on public perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Canadian workplace. The survey, conducted in July 2025, aimed to understand Canadians' attitudes toward the potential for AI to eliminate jobs, individual workers’ ability to adapt, and access to workplace training for using AI technology on the job.
The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) has also been studying AI’s effects on labour markets and the Canadian workplace, including recent surveys of employers and individual ICT workers. Information and communications technology (ICT) occupations include roles focused on software, information technology, data analysis, and cybersecurity.
Results from both the Abacus and ICTC surveys offer valuable comparisons and a broad overview of AI use in the Canadian workplace, along with the perceptions and concerns of Canadian workers as they navigate using AI in the workplace.
Concern about Automation in Canada
The Abacus survey reported that 70% of Canadians felt that it was “likely” or “extremely likely” that AI would “make some jobs in their industry obsolete.” Likewise, Abacus found that 62% of Canadians believed that AI would “eliminate more jobs than it creates” and 47% were “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” that AI and automation "will take over their job or force them to change their job/career" within the next five years.
Abacus’s results mirror findings from ICTC’s May 2025 study, Automation and the Future of Tech Careers in Canada: What Students Need to Know, which found that 59% of ICT workers expected a drop in demand for technology positions in Canada, and 24% of respondents fear being “left behind in the workplace.”
Preparation for AI Use in Canada
Regarding Canadian workers feeling prepared to use AI tools in the workplace, the Abacus survey found that 50% of Canadians reported being prepared for changes in the workplace being brought on by AI, including 11% who reported being “very prepared,” 39% being “somewhat prepared,” while a notable 19% of Canadians felt “not at all prepared.”
Yet, AI is already being adopted in Canadian workplaces, with Abacus finding that 21% of Canadians were required by their employers to use AI tools on the job and 15% were encouraged to do so.
Just over one in ten (12%) of ICTC’s survey of Canadian ICT workers reported that employers required them to use AI tools, and 53% reported that employers encouraged staff to use AI tools at work. However, only 37% of respondents to ICTC’s survey reported that their employers provided training on AI tool use.
Status of Automation in Canada: An ICT Occupations Case Study
ICTC’s Automation and the Future of Tech Careers in Canada study also assessed the risk of automation and the current status by type of ICT role. It found that many repetitive, lower-stakes tasks in data, programming, information technology (IT), and helpdesk roles are being automated on a trial basis. These tasks are often held by junior workers. Initial labour market signals for data roles indicate a shift towards demand for more senior positions that involve complex tasks and oversight responsibilities.
Furthermore, ICTC found that some ICT workers reported facing task recomposition in their roles—while some tasks are being automated, these workers may be taking on work traditionally associated with other job titles. Nearly a third (31%) of respondents in ICTC’s study reported that AI had already automated a task they previously performed manually.
As AI tools become more common in the workplace, these changes in job tasks highlight the urgent need for upskilling and reskilling programs for workers. A recent 2025 joint report by ICTC and the European Union AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) calls for policymakers, higher education institutions, and private sector organizations to collaborate in developing critical AI skills and talent, as well as upskilling and reskilling programs for workers disrupted by AI adoption in the workplace.
Despite AI transforming jobs and responsibilities, employers emphasize that students considering an ICT occupation should still acquire fundamental skills, learn to use AI tools critically, and demonstrate a combination of interpersonal and adaptable technology skills.
Erik Henningsmoen is a senior research and policy analyst with the Information and Communications Technology Council.
