HeitechSoft Quarterly: Summer 2025

In June a manager at a Waterloo hotel group asked for help after the recording of a six-hour meeting failed, and wanted to know whether AI could rebuild something useful from the presentation slides. We gave a hands-on AI crash course at our office. By mid-July the manager was turning those slides into a podcast with Google's NotebookLM, and the group's financial controller asked about AI training too. One practical session gave a non-technical manager the confidence to use AI on a real problem.

On May 6 we joined more than 40 industry professionals at Career Insights from Industry Professionals, a careers forum for all of Lester B. Pearson Public School's 200+ Grade 7 and 8 students in Waterloo. In three short breakout sessions we talked about the jobs and careers likely to exist in artificial intelligence over the next five to seven years. The next generation of staff is already curious about AI, and the people preparing them are looking for practical voices.

On July 22 Tom published an article on Medium, "Forget 'Using' AI. Canada's Future Depends on Owning It." It argues that the leading AI models are metered utilities owned by foreign companies, so every use sends revenue and data out of the country. In the article's words, "It's the difference between renting our future and building it ourselves." The same question applies to any business on a smaller scale: where your data goes and what you pay each time you use it.

Statistics Canada reports that 12.2% of businesses used AI to produce goods or deliver services in the second quarter of 2025, double the 6.1% a year earlier. Most businesses still do not use AI, so starting now with one well-chosen task puts you early, not late. Adopters mostly report no change in employment, but many changed workflows and trained staff, so budget for training time, not just licences.

A KPMG and University of Melbourne study ranked Canada 44th of 47 countries for AI training and literacy, and fewer than one in four Canadians surveyed had received any AI training. If your team matches the survey, most of your staff have had none. Hands-on training on the tools you already pay for, with a short rule on what company information may go into them, is the cheapest place to start.

FedDev Ontario is putting $2.4 million into the Toronto Region Board of Trade's new AI Business Catalyst program, which will help 75 businesses adopt AI. With only 75 places it will fill, so if you are in southern Ontario, ask the Board of Trade about eligibility now, and check FedDev Ontario's Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative for funding you could apply for directly.

In his first speech, Canada's first AI minister said the country will stop 'over-indexing on warnings and regulation', and that small and medium enterprises lag big companies in using AI. Don't expect a broad federal AI law soon: privacy law remains the yardstick. Before staff paste customer or employee information into a chatbot, check that it fits your privacy policy and PIPEDA obligations.

ChatGPT can now search documents in Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and SharePoint on all paid plans, and a new record mode writes structured meeting notes without a bot joining the call. It can read the same company files your staff can, so tidy file permissions first, use a Team or Enterprise plan where business data is excluded from training, and agree that people consent before any meeting is recorded.

OpenAI's ChatGPT agent can browse websites, fill in online forms and produce finished files, and it asks for confirmation before submitting forms or sending emails. Team seats get 40 messages a month, enough for occasional chores such as gathering supplier quotes into a spreadsheet. Try one repetitive task with someone watching, and keep the agent away from email and accounts that can spend money until you trust it.