If there was ever a word that captured how people actually felt about artificial intelligence this year, it was slop. Merriam-Webster’s human editors named it the 2025 Word of the Year, defining it as low-quality digital content produced at scale by AI. Four letters that neatly summed up the year. AI was everywhere. Impossible to avoid. Videos, images, ads, reports, emails, books, talking cats. Some of it impressive. Much of it junk. All of it constant.
AI became the buzzword of the year because so much was being done with it. At the same time, it felt hollow. We were told AI was coming for our jobs, even as it routinely failed at basic human judgment, context, and creativity. It was framed as the future, yet it often delivered something closer to sludge. That tension defined 2025. The promise was enormous. The output, too often, was slop.
Which is why the real shift happens in 2026. This year was about what AI could do, and 2026 will be about what it actually does.
That distinction matters for Canada. The AI conversation has finally moved past hype and fear and into execution. Over the past year, Ottawa’s tone has changed. Less doom. Less grandstanding. More focus on where AI can actually deliver value. The summer profile of Evan Solomon, the minister responsible for AI and digital innovation, captured this well. AI was framed not as an existential threat but as a transformative tool. Something closer to the printing press than the apocalypse. A force that rewards countries that act decisively and exposes those that hesitate.
In 2026, that framing becomes policy. The federal AI task force will deliver its recommendations. A refreshed national AI strategy is expected. Privacy legislation is set to return, narrower in scope and more targeted than previous attempts. The message from the government has been consistent. Canada does not want to stifle innovation through overreach, nor does it want to sit back and hope that market forces will sort everything out. It is trying, imperfectly, to find a middle path.
That shift is already visible inside government. AI is no longer confined to pilots and proof-of-concepts. Federal departments are actively using it. A public registry now lists hundreds of AI systems deployed or under development across Ottawa. Immigration processing, benefits administration, translation, enforcement, and internal operations. This is not speculation. AI is becoming part of the machinery of the state.
The pressure to expand that use will only intensify. Governments are facing tighter budgets, labour shortages, and rising expectations from citizens who want faster and better services. AI offers a way to modernize a public service that has struggled with digital delivery for years. But this is where 2026 becomes a test. Using AI at scale requires clear accountability. Canada’s legal and policy frameworks still assume a human decision maker at the centre. In many cases, that assumption no longer holds. Clarifying responsibility when systems fail or cause harm is no longer optional.
Beyond government, the economic stakes are even higher. Canada helped pioneer modern AI research, but it has captured little of the commercial upside. The companies that control global platforms, models, and infrastructure are overwhelmingly foreign.
That is why the focus has shifted toward scaling domestic companies, building trusted compute and cloud capacity under Canadian legal control, and concentrating on high value applications rather than chasing general purpose dominance. Canada’s advantages are not abstract. Health, agriculture, natural resources, robotics, and geospatial intelligence are areas where data quality, domain expertise, and trust matter more than sheer size. These are places where Canadian firms can lead if policy lines up with ambition.
By the end of 2026, Canada will not be judged on how many strategies it released or how many panels it convened. It will be judged on outcomes. Did AI actually improve public services. Did Canadian companies grow their customer base and scale at home? Did the country move beyond slop and toward substance?
AI is no longer a buzzword problem. It is an execution problem. And 2026 is when Canada finds out which one it is prepared to solve.
Daniel Perry is the Director of Federal Affairs at the Council of Canadian Innovators, leading national advocacy and engagement efforts. With experience in consulting and roles at the Senate of Canada, Queen’s Park, and the Canadian Criminal Justice Association, Daniel has helped political leaders and clients across various sectors achieve their public policy goals. A frequent media contributor and seasoned campaigner, Daniel holds a Master of Political Management from Carleton University.
