It’s difficult to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the hype around artificial intelligence and its many applications in our day-to-day lives.

I was a kid during the early days of the internet, so I wasn’t in the middle of that buzz. But I gradually started using it — in high school, university and beyond — and there’s no arguing about the benefits of the connectivity, access, innovation and empowerment it’s brought into our lives.

Can we say the same thing about AI? I’m sure many people would answer yes. But I also think there are many more questions — as well as ethical considerations — around bias, privacy and misinformation.

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During a keynote session at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2025 Alternative Investment Conference this summer, Dan Ciuriak, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation, shared his view on the transition into a new age of knowledge capital, driven by big data and generative AI. He outlined the ages of capital, from the early 1800s, when land was the main source of wealth, to the industrial revolution, to a series of technological breakthroughs that led to the knowledge-based economy and then the data-driven economy, which ushered in big data, deep learning and the scaling up of AI systems.

Of course, this latest transition feels overwhelming because we’re in the middle of it, just as many of the previous revolutions must have felt daunting and intimidating to the people who lived through them. No matter what shape it takes, change usually feels like an unbelievable hurdle until you get to the other side.

I find it easier to digest AI by narrowing it down, looking at one application at a time. At Benefits Canada, my central question is: What does it mean in benefits, pension and human resources? The most obvious application is communications. For several years, Canada’s group benefits providers and pension record keepers have been using developments in technology and big data to personalize and customize communications with plan members, ensuring they’re receiving targeted messaging at the right moment.

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The 2025 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey found 72 per cent of plan members would be open to receiving personalized information from their insurer based on their benefits usage, the highest since 2018 (66 per cent) when the question was first asked. For example, your benefits provider could look at your claims history and send you a targeted suggestion, such as a reminder to make an appointment with your dentist or optometrist.

While it’s clear AI has a role to play in this personalized approach to communications. There are also opportunities in streamlining administration and processes that typically take benefits teams a lot of time. It’s being used to optimize the disability management process for efficiency, says Aon’s Michelle Ashworth in this month’s Benefits Feature, but she notes AI can’t replace the role of a case manager.

“Each claim and individual are unique and you need that human touch — it’s really there to augment the information the case manager has access to when they’re developing a case management plan, so they’re leveraging the knowledge, findings and outcomes of the thousands of cases that are being managed by that carrier.”

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In the pension space, AI is being used to customize the savings experience, from AI-enabled communications to targeted nudges and personalized financial planning tools. According to last month’s Pension Feature, the next generation of personalization is moving away from broad messaging, because when “you show you’re speaking to them and not everyone else, you’re more likely to drive change,” according to WTW’s David Morton.

But at the heart of this personalization is the plan member and, according to the 2024 Future of Work Survey, only 27 per cent of employees said they expect AI will have a positive impact on their organizations over the next five years, with more skeptical — and even fearful — of the impact it could have on their industries and even their roles.

Employer respondents were more assured, with 46 per cent saying the same. As well, 63 per cent said they’re already using or exploring the use of AI technology for text- and data-heavy tasks or processes. Going further, this group said AI can help with screening applications in recruitment processes (67 per cent), building workflows (50 per cent) and generating HR/benefits/pension communications (44 per cent).

Although the results of the 2025 Future of Work Survey are in, I can’t share them just yet, but we’ll certainly compare the responses around AI to last year and analyze the pace of change when the report is published in December. Register to attend the 2025 Future of Work Summit here.

It’s such a complex topic, but no matter how complicated it gets, I hope it will always come back to the human touch.

Jennifer Paterson is the editor of Benefits Canada and the Canadian Investment Review.