Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) could increase the value of Canada’s economy by $210 billion, the equivalent of 8% of Gross Value Added, according to Google.
In its Google Canada Economic Impact Report 2022, the technology giant wrote that GenAI alone could save the average Canadian worker more than 100 hours a year, which it claimed is the single biggest improvement to worker productivity since Google Search was deployed.
It added that one in three employers planned to invest in AI-based technology over the next five years and, of those, 61% are likely to reallocate workers’ time to other more valuable tasks.
The report also noted that in 2022, Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, Google Cloud, and Google Advertising tools drove $45 billion of economic activity for Canadian businesses, non-profits, publishers, creators and developers.
It had an estimated $16 billion impact in Ontario, $9 billion impact in Quebec, $7.3 billion impact in Alberta and $5.6 billion impact in British Columbia.
“On average, Canadians told us they used Google Search four times a day to research something for their personal life. In other words, Google answers over 5 million questions for Canadians every hour – helping them to be more productive in both their personal and professional lives,” Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)-owned Google wrote in the report.
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