2026
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Canada Consumers and AI: 2026
2026-02-25T12:01:21+00:00
REP809E5BED_8010_483B_9E5B_ED8010783B85
4400
191449
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Report
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Canadians are navigating 2.4% annual inflation, with the cost of essentials rising up to 30% for everyday items like coffee, while 63% have experimented with generative AI – highlighting a…
Canada
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
simple

Canada Consumers and AI: 2026

"As AI evolves, proactive collaboration between governments, institutions and individuals will define the next era of fraud prevention, ensuring security keeps pace with innovation."

Michael Lloy, Research Analyst

Michael Lloy, Research Analyst

Market Intelligence ReportsArtificial Intelligence (AI)Canada

Artificial Intelligence in Canada – Consumer Trends

  • Canadians are navigating 2.4% annual inflation, with the cost of essentials rising up to 30% for everyday items like coffee, while 63% of Canadians have experimented with generative AI – highlighting a paradox of consumer strain and tech enthusiasm. This rapid adoption is tempered by clear demographic divides: men 35-54 and minorities over-index in usage, while 66% of all adults cite job loss as their top AI worry. The most significant industry impact is the transformation of the labour market, as Canadians confront the promise and peril of AI in equal measure.
  • Women and older demographics remain more skeptical about AI, preferring human-driven service and expressing discomfort with AI replacing creative or emotional roles. Meanwhile, scandals such as Grok-AI’s misuse and the growing burden of energy bills threaten to erode hard-won consumer trust, even as powerful new applications from OpenAI, Google and Meta rapidly shift digital norms.
  • The path forward favours brands offering transparent, hybrid AI-human experiences that demonstrably save time and money. The biggest opportunity lies in practical, wallet-friendly solutions that enhance daily life, while the biggest threat remains diminished confidence – driven by high-profile scandals and visible impacts on consumers’ wallets. Bridging the trust gap, with clarity and ethical leadership, is essential to convert curiosity into loyal AI adoption.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • Inflationary pressure and its impact on AI affordability and value perception among Canadian consumers.
  • Persistent demographic gaps in AI adoption, knowledge and trust – especially across age, gender and ethnicity.
  • Growing regulatory momentum in response to high-profile AI controversies and risks to consumer privacy and content rights.
  • Hardware bottlenecks including a global semiconductor and memory shortage and the impact on device costs and availability.
  • Evolving expectations for AI transparency, human control and safety, with strong consumer demands for ethics and privacy protections.
  • Success stories from brands mainstreaming AI via everyday devices, emphasizing hybrid AI-human service and creators’ input.
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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook for consumers and AI
    • Opportunities
    • Premium human-crafted experiences
    • Rebuilding trust at every touchpoint
    • Segment-smart growth plays

  2. THE MARKET

    • Consumers and the economic outlook
    • Costs remain elevated for Canadians
    • Graph 1: consumer price index, 2025
    • Rising costs and AI ethics: navigating consumer trust in a shifting economy
    • US AI policies shape Canadian digital landscape amid platform dominance
    • AI regulation demands surge amid Grok-AI Scandal: US and Canada Respond
    • AI boom sparks global semiconductor and RAM shortage as manufacturers prioritize enterprise over consumer markets
    • Canada’s AI data centre boom: rising costs and environmental challenges
    • AI and fraud: staying ahead of evolving threat

  3. THE CONSUMER

    • AI knowledge and usage
    • Generative AI in Canada: adoption trends, age gaps and opportunities for growth
    • Graph 2: knowledge and usage of AI, 2025
    • Men aged 35-54 are power users of AI – both personally and professionally
    • Graph 3: “I regularly use AI tools in my personal life,” by age and gender, 2025
    • Graph 4: “I regularly use AI tools professionally for work*,” by age and gender, 2025
    • Unlocking AI adoption: how men aged 35-54 lead the way in professional use
    • There is a knowledge and usage gap among women when it comes to AI
    • Bridging the gaps: how consumers use AI and opportunities for growth
    • Graph 5: tasks AI used for in the past three months, 2025
    • Women were significantly more likely to be uninterested in utilizing AI technology
    • Graph 6: have not used in the past three months and uninterested in using, by gender, 2025
    • Driven by women, companionship sees the largest lack of interest among consumers who aren’t using it
    • Canada’s minority population – usually younger – are significantly more likely to utilize AI both personally and professionally
    • Graph 7: AI usage and knowledge, by race, 2025
    • Interest among ethnic minorities results in increased usage for most AI-driven activities
    • Graph 8: tasks AI used for in the past three months, by race, 2025
    • Concerns and perceptions of AI
    • The majority of consumers feel that concerns about AI are not overblown
    • Graph 9: most concerns about the dangers of AI are overblown (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
    • Two-thirds of Canadians feel their single greatest concern around AI is job loss and replacement
    • Graph 10: my single greatest concern with AI is the potential for job loss (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
    • Younger consumers are re-evaluating social platform usage based on AI and data-sharing policies
    • Ethnic minority consumers in Canada feel AI concerns are overblown, but still show caution around data sharing
    • Graph 11: AI concerns and precautions (% agree), by race, 2025
    • AI in customer experience
    • Three quarters of consumers dislike being forced to interact with a machine instead of a human
    • Much of this sentiment is likely driven by poor perceptions of AI competence
    • When it comes to AI and automation, consumers would find AI-driven product comparison tools most useful, followed by customer service-related uses
    • Graph 12: AI/automation that would improve the customer experience, 2025
    • Building trust in AI: transparency, safety and personalization lead consumer priorities
    • Graph 13: AI capabilities to increase comfort in consumer-facing roles, 2025
    • Transparency, safety and personalization lead consumer priorities and increase consumer comfort
    • Age and gender inform how open consumers are to increasing their comfort level with AI
    • Graph 14: AI capabilities to increase comfort in consumer-facing roles, by gender, 2025
    • Graph 15: AI capabilities to increase comfort in consumer-facing roles, by age, 2025
    • Bridging the AI trust gap: transparency, ethics and gendered comfort levels
    • Chinese consumers are significantly more likely to find comfort in new AI capabilities
    • Graph 16: AI capabilities to increase comfort in consumer-facing roles, Chinese consumers vs overall, 2025
    • AI in advertisements could turn consumers off of a brand completely
    • Graph 17: “I would avoid purchasing or consuming a product if the company promoting it utilized an AI advertisement” (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
    • AI preferences and interests
    • Two-thirds of consumers prefer open-source AI projects due to the perception of increased transparency
    • Consumers are least interested in AI companionship
    • Graph 18: AI-related items least interested in (any rank), 2025
    • Older consumers are significantly less interested in interacting with AI agents for companionship
    • Graph 19: AI-related items least interested in, by age, 2025
    • Many Canadians report feeling a greater appreciation for human-created art and media due to rise of AI
    • Graph 20: AI makes me value things created by humans more (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
    • For two-thirds of consumers, AI is obfuscating what is real
    • AI ethics and regulation
    • Nearly all consumers feel that training AI on existing media and art is tantamount to theft
    • Graph 21: training AI systems on content that was obtained without the creator’s consent or proper authorization is morally wrong, and should be legally punished (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
    • Consumers want the ability to disable AI features
    • Consumers don’t have faith in the government to protect them from AI, skewing higher among Black consumers
    • Graph 22: the Canadian government will likely do more to protect businesses from AI (eg protecting copyright, intellectual property) than individual people (% agree), Black consumers vs overall, 2025
    • Bridging the AI trust gap: implications for brands, government and consumers

  4. PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING

    • 2025 ushered in the start of a new era of home robots with the 1X launch of NEO – the first consumer‑ready humanoid home robot
    • SwitchBot unveils AI‑driven smart‑home robots & AI pets at IFA 2025
    • SpriteSwap studio lets consumers turn photos into playable Game Boy ROMs
    • Smartphone‑integrated AI tools drove major consumer adoption through 2025–2026
    • Model updates and additions prompt increased usage and adoption: OpenAI
    • Google’s Gemini gains traction with viral image/video models
    • Grok’s visual‑generation upgrades drove a major adoption spike
    • Meta’s expanding AI integration across Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram drove major engagement growth (2025-26)

  5. APPENDIX

    • Consumer questions
    • Key partnerships and deals in the AI market in 2025
    • OpenAI deals and partnerships – 2025
    • Google Deepmind/Gemini partnerships – 2025
    • Microsoft Copilot partnerships – 2025
    • Meta AI and Llama partnerships – 2025
    • X and Grok AI partnerships – 2025
    • Research methodolgy and terms
    • Consumer research methodology – Canada
    • Abbreviations and terms
    • Abbreviations and terms (cont’d)

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