Digital Equity in the Energy Sector: Ensuring AI Benefits Are Broadly Shared in Canada

Fremont, CA: Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping Canada’s energy landscape by optimizing grids, integrating renewables, and boosting efficiency, while raising the crucial question of how its benefits can be shared equitably across all communities. This is the core of "digital equity" in the energy sector—a commitment to fair access to and participation in the AI-driven energy future. Canada, with its vast geography and diverse population, has a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead in this area, exploring how AI can support energy access, workforce upskilling, and equitable innovation.

Upskilling the Workforce for an AI-Driven Future

The integration of AI into the energy sector is set to transform job roles and skill requirements fundamentally. While AI can streamline repetitive tasks such as data entry and routine maintenance, it also generates new opportunities in high-value areas, including data analysis, AI system management, and cybersecurity. Ensuring a just workforce transition will require proactive investment in upskilling and reskilling initiatives. National programs, such as those led by Electricity Human Resources Canada (EHRC) in collaboration with the Future Skills Centre, are already working to model future job functions and identify emerging skills gaps, thereby providing critical insights for training, workforce development, and policy. To remain competitive, training efforts must increasingly focus on complementary skills that enhance, rather than compete with, AI technologies—such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and technical competencies like prompt engineering for AI models. Equally important is ensuring equitable access to education, which requires coordinated efforts among governments, industry, and academic institutions to standardize digital skills development, expand training opportunities, and make resources accessible to all workers, regardless of their role or location.

Fostering Equitable AI Innovation

As Canada continues to invest in AI, it is essential to ensure that innovation is not confined to a few urban centers but extends its benefits across all regions and demographics. Achieving this requires embedding equity into the core of AI policy and development. Government initiatives, such as the Energy Innovation Program (EIP) and the AI Compute Access Fund, must be designed with inclusivity at their foundation by supporting projects led by, or in partnership with, Indigenous communities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and underrepresented groups. Such an approach will democratize access to funding and resources, enabling a broader range of innovators to drive the energy transition. Equally important is the establishment of clear frameworks for data ownership, privacy, and governance, particularly regarding data sourced from rural and Indigenous communities. Transparent and equitable policies are vital to building trust and ensuring that these communities benefit from, rather than are exploited by, data-driven solutions.

Canada must address the “productivity paradox,” wherein world-class AI research has not translated into widespread adoption, especially among SMEs. This challenge is less about ambition and more about access to resources and expertise. Programs that offer practical, expert-led instruction and peer-learning opportunities—such as the AI Skills Lab Canada pilot—play a critical role in empowering businesses to adopt AI in ways that are both economically beneficial and aligned with Canadian values.

Canada's energy future is inextricably linked to its ability to harness AI responsibly and equitably. By leveraging AI to enhance energy access in underserved communities, proactively upskilling the workforce, and fostering inclusive innovation, Canada can develop a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable energy system. This is not just a technological challenge, but a social one as well. The path to digital equity in the energy sector requires a shared commitment to ensuring that the power of AI is used to uplift all Canadians, leaving no one behind in the transition to a cleaner, more efficient, and more connected future.