Corporate push for productivity gains likely to fuel more use of AI

Labour output could see a boost of eight per cent by 2030, data shows

- TARA DESCHAMPS

The chief technology officer of Google’s cloud division says the next year or two will see many organizations shift from experimenting with artificial intelligence to truly putting it to work.

As companies move out of trial mode, Will Grannis says more and more are going to turn to AI-based platforms and tools for everything from financial services to health care.

He feels the shift will be triggered by the world’s growing familiarity with the technology and the ongoing quest to improve productivity and efficiency, particularly in the workforce.

“Public sector, private sector, commercial — it doesn’t matter because we all want to run our businesses more efficiently,” Grannis said during a recent trip to Toronto for the Collision tech conference. “And it turns out today that there’s a lot of manual things people do that don’t provide a lot of value.”

Canada’s productivity rate — the amount the country produces for each hour worked — has declined in recent years to a level that is now 30 per cent below the U.S., a Royal Bank of Canada report released June 20 said.

Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers even went as far as to call the trend an emergency in a March speech.

The data RBC cites argues that AI could reverse this trend, potentially saving each worker in the country between 100 and 125 hours per year and boost labour productivity by eight per cent by 2030.