How many AI researchers are there in Canada?

As of September 2026, the index holds 15 943 researchers whose institution sits in Canada, 2.3% of everyone with a known country. Only people who published AI research are counted, which makes the figure a floor.

Where do you find AI researchers in Canada?

University of Toronto, 1 689, University of Waterloo, 1 208, University of British Columbia, 1 118. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 7.2% of the country's subject assignments.

What is Canada strongest in?

Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning, at about the world share.

Is the pool of AI researchers in Canada growing?

Yes, slower than the world. Since 2024, 3 469 people in Canada published for the first time, against 2 303 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.5 where the world sits at 1.7.

AI researchers in Canada | Founding Hires

The short answer

Canada is the 8th country by indexed AI researchers, 15 943 of them.

Canada counts 398 indexed AI researchers per million inhabitants, 4.7 times the world rate of 85.

Mobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing is the subject newcomers in Canada pick up fastest: 50 started on it since 2024, and its share of new entrants is 3.6 times its share in the previous window.

What stands out

With 0.5% of the world's people and 2.3% of its indexed AI researchers, Canada runs at 4.7 times its demographic weight.

Subjects

The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 7.2% of Canada's subject assignments fall.

The subject where Canada weighs most against the rest of the world is Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning: 2.5% of its subject assignments work on it, about the world share of 2.5%.

Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Multimodal Machine Learning Applications, Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning, Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis.

Subjects of 15 943 indexed researchers in Canada, OpenAlex taxonomy, one person can carry several subjects.
Subject	Researchers	Share here	Share worldwide
Topic Modeling	2 290	7.2%	7.8%
Natural Language Processing Techniques	1 261	4.0%	4.2%
Advanced Neural Network Applications	1 110	3.5%	4.3%
Multimodal Machine Learning Applications	964	3.0%	3.8%
Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning	804	2.5%	2.5%
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis	774	2.4%	2.6%
Software Engineering Techniques and Practices	191	0.6%	0.2%
Information Retrieval and Search Behavior	179	0.6%	0.4%

Newcomers by year

Newcomers since 2024 number 3 469 in Canada, against 2 303 between 2021 and 2023: a ratio of 1.5, where the world sits at 1.7.

Measured on 2025 alone, entry into Canada ran at 0.8 times its three-year average, where the world ran at 0.8.

Researchers by year of first publication, up to 2025, the last full year indexed.
First publication	New in Canada	Share of the world's newcomers
2019	599	3.1%
2020	614	3.0%
2021	687	2.8%
2022	871	2.6%
2023	745	2.5%
2024	831	2.9%
2025	647	2.7%

Institutions

25% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by University of Toronto.

University of Toronto is the largest, with 1 689 indexed researchers, barely ahead of University of Waterloo at 1 208. No single place dominates here. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.

Largest institutions by indexed researchers, named from twenty people.
Institution	Researchers	Share of the country
University of Toronto	1 689	11%
University of Waterloo	1 208	7.6%
University of British Columbia	1 118	7.0%

Compared with its peers

The two countries closest in size are France and South Korea. Same order of magnitude, different profile. The gap that stands out is the researchers per million inhabitants: 398 here against 292 for those two. Reports: AI researchers in France, AI researchers in South Korea.

Same measures, three countries of similar size.
	Canada	France	South Korea
Researchers	15 943	16 119	18 045
Per million inhabitants	398	236	349
In a company	11%	8.6%	9.2%
Early career	51%	46%	43%
Newcomers, recent against previous window	1.5	1.0	1.7

Method

A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.

Common questions

How many AI researchers are there in Canada?: As of September 2026, the index holds 15 943 researchers whose institution sits in Canada, 2.3% of everyone with a known country. Only people who published AI research are counted, which makes the figure a floor.
Where do you find AI researchers in Canada?: University of Toronto, 1 689, University of Waterloo, 1 208, University of British Columbia, 1 118. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 7.2% of the country's subject assignments.
What is Canada strongest in?: Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning, at about the world share.
Is the pool of AI researchers in Canada growing?: Yes, slower than the world. Since 2024, 3 469 people in Canada published for the first time, against 2 303 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.5 where the world sits at 1.7.