TORONTO, June 25, 2026 – As Canada moves to close its national AI adoption gap, new research from BDO Canada finds nearly half (46%) of Canadian business leaders are experimenting with AI without achieving meaningful ROI. Only 18% are actively embedding AI into workflows and operations, according to BDO Canada’s AI Vision Report: Past the pilot to the agentic future of work.
Second-stage challenge for Canadian organizations
BDO says the findings point to a second-stage challenge: identifying the readiness gaps that limit value, then building the governance, workforce capability and operating discipline needed to scale AI responsibly. For business leaders, this represents a shift from counting the number of pilots to evaluating whether those efforts are improving decisions, managing risk and creating measurable value.
The report explores how organizations can move beyond isolated AI pilots toward governed, enterprise-wide adoption. It outlines how leaders can connect AI initiatives to clear business outcomes, accountable decision-making, and measurable value as AI moves from stand-alone productivity tools into more integrated, multi-step workflows.
Visibility gap and future impact
The report also found that 27% of Canadian business leaders believe AI will have minimal impact on their organization over the next four years. BDO says this may point to a visibility gap as AI becomes increasingly embedded into enterprise software, workflows and decision-support systems.
“The next gap will not be between organizations using AI and not using AI. It will be between those redesigning work around AI and those funding disconnected pilots. As AI moves beyond the chat phase and into workflows, leaders will need to be clear on what problems they are solving, who is accountable for the outcome, what data can be used, whether that data is reliable enough to support the work, and how value will be measured. Most executives do not yet know what that looks like in practice, and the distance between those who do and those who do not is widening,” says Bill Syrros, National AI Leader, BDO Canada.
From adoption to responsible scale
BDO says organizations need to scale AI in a way that creates measurable value, manages risk and helps people adapt to new ways of working. The findings come as businesses begin preparing for agentic AI systems that can support multi-step work, coordinate information across platforms and move teams toward more integrated workflows.
As these capabilities become more common, BDO says organizations will need to treat AI as an operating-model change, not simply a technology deployment. Scaling safely and effectively will require clear governance, ownership, workforce enablement, adoption planning and measurement tied to business outcomes.
