Alberta’s AI ambitions face adoption challenges as most businesses remain on the sidelines

CALGARY — The Alberta government’s plan to attract $100 billion in investment for AI data centres by 2030 is seen by some observers as an achievable goal, but others say simply building the massive infrastructure will not guarantee economic success, nor does it automatically mean local businesses will adopt AI going forward.Last week, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish told attendees at the Global Energy Show in Calgary that, alongside that investment, large-scale data centres could break ground by the end of summer.“What you’re going to see later this summer is some gigawatt-scale announcements,” Glubish said.“These are shovels in the ground, permits complete, financing in place, and we’re 12 to 18 months away from the first campus being turned on.”It’s a timeline that Punchcard Systems co-founder and managing partner Sam Jenkins said is realistic for projects backed by major investors. However, he cautioned that attracting data centres to Alberta is only part of the broader challenge the province faces.The Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, conducted between April and May estimated that business adoption of AI in Alberta currently stands at 18.4% — slightly lower than the national average of 19.2%..The data also shows more than 80% of Alberta businesses have yet to incorporate AI into the production of goods or services, suggesting there is significant room for further growth.Still, other surveys indicate AI use may be more widespread than official business adoption figures suggest.A KPMG survey found 51% of Canadian employees now use generative AI tools at work, up from 22% in 2023, although many of those applications involve administrative tasks such as drafting emails or summarizing meetings rather than core business operations.Jenkins argues much of the adoption seen so far has been superficial, consisting largely of companies adding AI features to existing software rather than fundamentally changing how they operate..“I think most organizations are simply applying AI tooling,” Jenkins told the Western Standard, pointing to examples such as AI use in accounting software and invoicing.“But there's a real need for organizations to redesign work, and what I mean by that is really taking an AI-native approach to how their organizations are being developed. Most organizations, not only in Alberta but worldwide, aren't taking that approach quite yet; it's that surface-level AI adoption.”When asked how many companies he believes are currently restructuring their operations to be truly AI-ready, Jenkins estimated the number is only in the “low single digits.” He said industries such as construction, energy and field services could generate significant economic gains if they successfully integrated AI into their core operations.“Just a couple more percentage points of adoption probably generates billions of dollars in GDP for the province,” he said.Jenkins also argued the challenge facing businesses is less about technology and more about leadership..DATA CENTRE DOUBLE DOWN: Alberta presses ahead with AI strategy as global projects falter.Although AI tools are becoming increasingly accessible, he said many organizations have yet to rethink how information is shared and how work is organized.The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently published a paper entitled The Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Firms, which reported that “managers often struggle to understand how AI can address real problems in the workplace and simultaneously underestimate the enterprise-wide implications and changes in business culture that AI may entail.”According to Jenkins, companies that merely layer AI tools onto existing processes risk falling behind competitors that fundamentally redesign their operations around the technology.“The future belongs to organizations that are redesigning their work, not organizations that simply buy an AI tool,” he said.“The CEOs and leaders who are willing to take on that leadership challenge today are the ones that are going to win the future.”

Alberta’s AI ambitions face adoption challenges as most businesses remain on the sidelines

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