By: Anthony Dale, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, and Vivek Goel, President Emeritus at the University of Waterloo
At a time when conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) often focus on uncertainty and risk, Ontario has a more hopeful story to tell.
Across the province, hospitals, universities, researchers and health system leaders are demonstrating how AI can look when guided by purpose, grounded in real-world needs and implemented responsibly. This is not a distant vision. It’s happening now — and it’s worth celebrating.
Canada has long been recognized as a global leader in AI research and talent. The opportunity before us now is to ensure that strength is translated into meaningful impact in the systems that matter most to people’s lives. Few areas offer greater promise than health care.
Used thoughtfully, AI can support clinical decision-making, can reduce the administrative burden, free up clinicians’ time, and help staff focus on what they do best – caring for their patients. It can help identify risks earlier, strengthen the use of diagnostic tools, optimize scheduling, and support more responsive care.
In Ontario’s hospitals, this promise is already becoming a reality. AI-enabled tools help improve imaging workflows, support earlier identification of patient deterioration, optimize surgical scheduling, and better understand complex patient journeys. These are real advancements that allow for individualized, precise care that make curing rare diseases within our reach.
That matters deeply at this moment.
Health care is facing significant pressure. Ontarians are living longer, but increasingly with chronic illness and complex care needs. Research conducted by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in collaboration with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) projects that by 2040, 3.1 million Ontarians will be living with major illness — up from 1.8 million in 2020 — with one in four adults over the age of 30 expected to be affected. As the prevalence and complexity of chronic disease continue to rise, so too will the number of patients requiring care beyond a hospital stay. For many older adults with complex needs, prolonged time in hospital can hinder recovery and quality of life, underscoring the need for new approaches that support patients in the right setting at the right time. Innovation is not a luxury — it is essential. Responsible AI offers a ray of optimism: a way to support people, strengthen care, and help build a more resilient health system.
Ontario is well positioned to lead because it already has many of the ingredients required for success: strong hospitals, world-class universities, exceptional researchers, committed leaders, and a culture of collaboration.
Hospitals play a pivotal role in Ontario's innovation ecosystem, serving as the bridge between discovery and real-world impact. Working alongside academic institutions, researchers, and innovators, they help translate new ideas into practical solutions that improve patient outcomes, strengthen health system performance, and support economic growth.
This partnership matters because hospitals and universities bring distinct but complementary strengths. Hospitals understand what it takes to implement change in complex, high-stakes environments and have demonstrated remarkable innovation under pressure — from the pandemic response to the adoption of new digital tools and models of care. Universities contribute research excellence, interdisciplinary expertise, and the ability to develop talent at scale. Together, they form a powerful engine for innovation, positioning Ontario to lead in the fourth industrial revolution and shape the future of AI-enabled health care.
When those strengths are aligned, innovation moves faster, spreads more effectively, and delivers greater benefit to patients and communities.
The partnership between the OHA and the University of Waterloo reflects this shared commitment. Earlier this year, 128 hospital executives came together through the CEO AI Leadership Program to deepen their understanding of AI and build the leadership capacity needed to guide its responsible adoption. This kind of executive-level readiness is foundational to mobilize the hospital system and accelerate AI adoption to make a meaningful impact on patient outcomes. It recognizes that AI is a leadership, governance, and health system transformation priority.
Partnerships like CareNext in Waterloo Region further show what is possible when hospitals and universities work together with shared purpose. By bringing together hospitals, researchers, students and innovators, CareNext functions as a living lab for health innovation — aligning research, talent and frontline care to accelerate real-world impact. This model helps ensure that new ideas are shaped by actual care needs and designed with adoption in mind from the beginning.
This is exactly the kind of work Canada needs more of.
For too long, AI leadership has been measured by discovery alone. Discovery remains essential, but the next phase of leadership will be defined by adoption, implementation, and impact. It will be measured by whether promising ideas can move from research environments into real care settings, where they can improve outcomes for patients, providers and communities.
Recent momentum around AI and health data infrastructure, including the announcement of new federal funding to expand the Ontario-based VITAL data platform, is an encouraging recognition of Canada's capabilities and need to develop sovereign data and analytic capabilities. This investment builds on previous funding from federal, provincial and institutional sources. Ongoing recognition from all orders of government about the importance of AI is exciting because the foundation is already here.
Ontario’s hospitals and universities are showing how responsible AI can be advanced in a way that is practical, ethical, sustainable and focused on people. They are building literacy, strengthening governance, identifying scalable use cases, and creating the partnerships needed to turn possibility into progress.
For the OHA and the University of Waterloo, this is a moment of real optimism.
It is a chance to celebrate the work already underway and to continue building the partnerships that will shape what comes next. The future of AI in health care will not be defined by technology alone. It will be defined by how thoughtfully we govern it, how effectively we implement it, and how clearly we keep patients, providers and communities at the centre.
Canada does not need to imagine what an AI-enabled health system could look like.
Ontario is already helping build it — responsibly, collaboratively and with tremendous promise for the future.
Photo caption: (left to right) Anthony Dale, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, and Vivek Goel, President Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, co-authors of the article.