Artificial intelligence, real concerns: AI use a daily reality for many, but widespread anxiety over consequences
November 20, 2025 – Artificial intelligence has been a rocket ship for investment in 2025, sending Wall Street soaring and contributing by some estimates to 40 per cent of GDP growth south of the border as spending on datacentres and development booms. As Canadians watch and experience the ways that AI is changing their lives, perspectives are defined by hesitation, concern, and pockets of optimism.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute – collected, analyzed, and summarized by human beings – finds adoption of this transformative technology uneven. Age, education and wealth correlate with uptake. While younger people adopting technology at a faster pace may not surprise many, the income gap is far wider and more revelatory.
Consider that those who household incomes are higher than $100,000 are far more likely to use AI multiple times per week for personal reasons (39%) compared to those in the $50K to $99K range (27%) and below $50K (24%). Use at work produces an even larger but perhaps more obvious gap, given the lack on need in some industries and the growing dependence in others.
While it is likely too early to make any generalizations about this trend, it is worth nothing that four-in-five Canadians (78%) say that AI will create a prosperity gap between those who comfortable with using the technology and those who are not.
There is more consensus on some of the challenges and negative consequences they expect from AI. Just three-in-10 (31%) say that it will make life easier for everyone, while more than twice as many (69%) disagree. On the concept of job losses – something already happening at tech firms – Canadians are overwhelmingly view AI’s net effects to include job loss (86%) not job creation (14%).
Further, 95 per cent say that AI related misinformation will become a major challenge for society in the coming years and four-in-five (78%) are worried about the amount of energy this new technology utilizes.
More Key Findings:..
Leading with a security-first mentality
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