Manitoba chambers rolls out AI adoption training assessment tool

A new online tool aims to help Manitoba businesses in their move to adopt artificial intelligence.

The AI Readiness Assessment evaluates organizations on their familiarity with, and current use of, AI. The voice-led assessment takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete and provides personalized suggestions for businesses to map their AI adoption.

Manitoba AI Pathways, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce’s new AI training initiative, developed the assessment in partnership with the Manitoba Association of AI Professionals.

Kay Gardiner, a chambers program director, announced the tool on Wednesday at a small-business forum organized by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. The forum, held at the Delta Hotel, focused on what AI means for Manitoba businesses today.

Many don’t know where to begin when it comes to AI, Gardiner told a reporter before the event. Organizations that participate in the assessment instantly receive a personalized report that suggests how to get started.

“We want to give businesses whatever they need to keep being competitive,” Gardiner said.

Businesses can access the assessment tool at ai-readiness.ca. The chamber network’s goal is to have 2,000 different businesses use the tool by the end of May.

Manitoba AI Pathways will use the data the assessment collects to understand how businesses in the province are using AI.

The assessment’s launch follows on the heels of the chambers releasing the results of the AI Adoption Program Design Survey, which gathered input from businesses to inform the development of Manitoba AI Pathways.

Two-thirds (75.4 per cent) of respondents reported at least moderate confidence using AI tools, with nearly the same number of respondents (72.8 per cent) saying their No. 1 business priority for exploring or adopting AI is to improve efficiency and reduce administrative workload.

“The adoption is quite informal and generally driven by individuals experimenting, rather than a formal organizational strategy,” Gardiner said. “(The survey) also pointed to a lack of governance planning around it. So, businesses are already experimenting with AI, but few have a plan.”

A total of 195 individuals responded to the survey: 70.3 per cent of respondents reported working in small businesses (100 or fewer employees), while 13.8 per cent worked at medium-sized organizations (101-499 employees) and 15.9 per cent worked in large organizations with 500 or more employees. The majority are located in Winnipeg (82 per cent).

The chambers network typically likes to see a 70/30 split between Winnipeg respondents and respondents from outside the Perimeter Highway, Gardiner said. “We were close to that number, so I think (the results are) representative of the population.”

The biggest takeaway from the survey, she added, is Manitoba businesses are looking to AI to ease their administrative burden.

The Manitoba Association of AI Professionals approached the chambers network last summer about the need for an assessment tool, said Harry Roy McLaughlin, association founder and board chairperson.

“We kind of saw a need from a lot of businesses,” he said. “So we figured this is something that we could probably help with.

“I really hope it puts people and companies on the right path to adopting AI and realizing the benefits from it.”

During Wednesday’s forum, speaker Dan Blair encouraged the business leaders in attendance to build an AI-related learning process by curating three to five trusted sources to learn from, scheduling a weekly 30-minute block of time for learning about AI, and picking one task per week and trying to solve it using AI.

If you can have a conversation, you can use AI, said Blair, who is the founder and CEO at Bit Space Development Ltd. and an instructor at Red River College Polytechnic.

AI won’t replace people, he added, saying people who learn to use AI become more valuable to an organization rather than less valuable.

He encouraged attendees to think about the biggest challenge they face in their organization, whether it’s their hiring process, writing job descriptions or something else, and to use AI to help.

“Find low-hanging fruit items to solve an actual problem,” Blair said. “I don’t want to sell people puppies and dreams here, I just want to solve an actual problem with something that is actually implementable today.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca