AI not yielding meaningful return for nearly half of business leaders: BDO report

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TORONTO — A new report says 46 per cent of Canadian business leaders surveyed are experimenting with AI without achieving a meaningful return on their investment.

The report by BDO Canada says organizations need to use AI in a way that creates measurable value, manages risk and helps people adapt to new ways of working.

It says only 18 per cent of businesses are actively embedding AI into workflows and operations and that 27 per cent of Canadian business leaders believe AI will have minimal impact on their organization over the next four years.

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BDO says the findings may point to a visibility gap as AI becomes embedded into business software, workflows and other systems.

Bill Syrros, BDO Canada’s national AI leader, says the next gap will not be between organizations using AI and not using AI, but between those redesigning work around AI and those funding disconnected pilots.

The online survey conducted between March 31 to April 3 questioned 520 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum and self-identified as senior business leaders.

The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.