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What Shadow AI Looks Like in a Canadian Advisory Practice

What shadow AI looks like in a Canadian advisory practice. The tools, the workflows, and what CIRO, PIPEDA, and Law 25 mean when it touches client data.

Sandra Lyne
11 min read
What Shadow AI Looks Like in a Canadian Advisory Practice

TL;DR

Canadian advisors are adopting AI privately at rates close to the broader workforce, and narrating that adoption publicly at rates close to zero. The silence has structural causes in the dealer-visibility architecture. CIRO's February 2026 Compliance Report moved AI from a single trend-scan line to a FinOps examination priority. Staff Notice 31-368 named the gap firms are failing: it's a documentation gap. Two jurisdiction-specific questions close the distance between current practice and a defensible position, and a third path applies to independent and boutique advisors whose vendor approval is their own decision.
Sandra Lyne

Sandra Lyne

Founder, Northern Catalyst | Developer, Meeting Notes Pro

Building tools for Canadian financial advisors

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