Which Businesses are Hiring the Most AI Talent in Canada?

AI is a growing industry in Canada—maybe the understatement of the year. But there are some companies looking for talent in the field more than others.

Indeed has published a report that looks at which businesses are hiring the most AI talent in Canada, which is an interesting statistic considering almost every tech and financial company in the country is looking to bring on AI in one form or another.

AI talent is increasingly in demand because of many companies are looking to integrate the tech. The share of jobs in Canada that require AI skills has grown 1069 per cent since January 2013, which represents a faster growth rate than both the U.K and U.S., as shown below.

“Advances in artificial intelligence have stoked fears of large-scale job loss, our data shows that AI can help create jobs, too,“ said Jodi Kasten, managing director at Indeed Canada. “These jobs are also found in a variety of industries including finance and tech and for a budding and complex technology like AI, there will be continued need for highly-skilled workers to develop and maintain a wide range of AI applications in Canada.”

In terms of which companies are actively hiring for AI skills at the highest rate in Canada, RBC tops the list, as six per cent of their job postings met Indeed’s criteria to be considered for an AI role.

Following RBC was IBM, coming in with four per cent of their job listings meeting the AI skills criteria. Five companies followed at two per cent, including Scotiabank, KPMG, Amazon, LoyaltyOne and TD Bank. Check out the full chart below—in total, only half of the companies on the list are headquartered in Canada, with all of those based in Toronto, save for Kinaxis in Ottawa.

It’s no secret that AI is seeing immense gains in application not just throughout Canada, but the world. Montreal and Toronto have become global hubs of AI study, with places like the Vector Institute and MILA leading the charge of innovation. The rest of Canada is pushing forward in AI as well, collectively proving that the country can contend with some of the world’s leading tech powerhouses.