Alongside deglobalization and changing global supply chains, technology is now permeating strategy at a global level, with artificial intelligence moving from a topic of innovation to an instrument of power, according to Mai Mavinkurve, founding partner at Prosperity Global Services and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation.
Speaking during a keynote session at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2025 Investment Innovation Conference, she said nations are now competing for compute, data and talent because they recognize this is the next era of power. “These are now becoming on par with our energy resources and other infrastructure.”
In this era, who controls the data is increasingly important, said Mavinkurve, as well as who’s setting the standards. “There are really no standards currently in this space, . . . but who’s setting these standards globally will matter in the sense that different jurisdictions will capture value from AI and data differently as a result. It is a critical time right now to really balance innovation with that regulatory environment.”
While Canada is very early in the journey to update its data and AI regulations, the country is also facing challenges with respect to productivity, she said, highlighting a survey that found a third of chief executive officers said they expect generative AI will deliver a 15 per cent increase in productivity gains in the next two years.
“Those are really high expectations, but what I’ve seen in the industry, having worked with the high-tech sector, as well as larger organizations, is we’re seeing two stories playing out.”
First, sophisticated technology companies are seeing gains out of the use of AI tools, growing quickly without hiring a lot of people, said Mavinkurve. On the other hand, larger organizations — and particularly those outside of the tech sector — are at the beginning of the journey, using some AI programs but also looking at how to resolve governance challenges.
“Their productivity story isn’t yet about getting that acceleration. It’s about how we build the conditions to allow for innovation to take place. I think this dichotomy is creating a lot of noise in the system.”
When it comes to AI, she said, there are numerous innovations, but in the context of organizations, AI is still only a tool — or in some cases, a co-collaborator. The framework ahead will be agentic AI (where someone can give tasks to an agent to complete work), super intelligent AI (where the AI is more intelligent than humans) and symbiotic AI (where humans and machines are operating together).
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While AI is effectively everywhere, Mavinkurve encouraged institutional investors to consider three areas for making an impact: investment and strategy, back and middle office operations and human augmentation. “As you’re building AI into your operations, do a cross-check on your [fiduciary] mandate and make sure you’re still checking off every single one of those boxes, because sometimes there’s excitement around new technologies and you may forget some of those obligations.”
She also highlighted the importance of proper risk management processes and governance structures, layering in expertise around how AI technology is different, why it’s different and how to handle it. “Many organizations continue to struggle with [the] need to innovate and . . . [believe] this isn’t really that high risk. It’s very tempting to [move quickly] because you don’t want to miss out, but I think having the proper governance foundations now are going to make an incredible difference in years to come.”
Mavinkurve concluded by encouraging delegates to test out and learn about AI technologies, so they can determine what value they can get out of them and how it can be meaningful in their organizations. “Think about it, get some other leaders on board and start to play around and put in place a couple of guardrails. Run it for 30 days and see where it could lead. Lean into that curiosity. The wave is already here, so I’d encourage everybody to get on board and enjoy the ride.”
Read more coverage of the 2025 Investment Innovation Conference.