🏆 AI Is Not a Bubble — It’s a Leadership Test

Artificial intelligence has reached a strange moment.

On one hand, it’s everywhere — embedded in customer service, workflows, analytics, and decision-making. On the other, many leaders still talk about AI as if it’s optional, experimental, or something to “wait and see.”

In this episode of Canada Now, I sit down with Karen Olsson — tech entrepreneur, fractional CEO, and principal at Atomic47 — to talk about what’s really happening beneath the surface of the AI conversation, and why leadership (not tools) is now the differentiator.

This wasn’t a conversation about hype. It was a conversation about responsibility, readiness, and what comes next.

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One of the clearest throughlines in this conversation is that AI has quietly moved from novelty to infrastructure.

Karen has spent years working with organizations in highly regulated and operationally complex sectors — healthcare, energy, municipal government — where “trying things out” isn’t an option. In those environments, AI isn’t about flashy demos. It’s about whether systems work, data is trustworthy, and workflows can scale without breaking.

The shift isn’t theoretical. It’s operational. And it’s already underway.

One of the most persistent fears around AI is job loss. But Karen reframes this concern in a way that’s both practical and human.

Across the organizations she works with, AI is most effective when it removes low-level, repetitive work — not people.

In pharmacies, for example, structured AI workflows can reduce human error and compliance issues, freeing professionals to focus on higher-value clinical care. In healthcare and municipal services, AI agents can handle repetitive inquiries, allowing humans to spend more time on meaningful interaction.

The outcome isn’t replacement — it’s reallocation of human energy toward work that actually matters.

Canada Now | Episode 11: AI Is Not a Bubble — It’s a Leadership Test

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If there was one message Karen returned to repeatedly, it was this: AI governance is now a leadership responsibility.

Not later. Not once things “settle.” Now.

As organizations rush to experiment with AI, many are discovering internal friction — workers adopting tools on their own, middle management trying to block usage, and executives calling for innovation without clear guardrails.

Karen argues that successful organizations resolve this tension by treating governance as an enabler, not a constraint.

She describes this as “minimum viable governance”: understanding where data lives, who can access it, how models are trained, and where human oversight must remain in the loop.

Midway through the conversation, Karen shares the metaphor that has shaped how she thinks about this moment.

In 2023, she and her family were evacuated during a wildfire. Like many others, they were initially told the fire wouldn’t spread — until it did.

That experience became a lens for understanding AI.

“A bubble bursts and disappears.
A wildfire reshapes the landscape.”

AI, in her view, isn’t something that will peak and vanish. It’s something that will change how business operates permanently — clearing out inefficiencies and forcing organizations to adapt, whether they’re ready or not.

The conversation also stayed grounded in a Canadian context — particularly around risk aversion, investment patterns, and innovation culture.

Karen makes a compelling case that Canada’s biggest opportunity isn’t inventing the next global AI platform. It’s building niche applications, data infrastructure, and sovereign systems that reflect Canadian values and priorities.

She also points to growing momentum: increased focus on buying Canadian tech, greater awareness of procurement practices, and meaningful leadership emerging from Indigenous-owned organizations that have long understood sovereignty and stewardship.

This is where leadership, policy, and culture intersect — and where Canada still has a chance to lead.

This episode isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about recognizing what’s already here.

AI isn’t a bubble to speculate on.
It’s not a tool to delegate.
And it’s not something leaders can afford to ignore.

It’s a leadership test — one that asks whether organizations are willing to align strategy, governance, and human judgment in a rapidly changing environment.

And as Karen makes clear, the organizations that get this right won’t just be more efficient — they’ll be more resilient, more trusted, and better prepared for what comes next.

Karen Olsson is a tech entrepreneur, fractional CEO, and strategic advisor with decades of experience building and guiding technology-driven organizations. She is a principal at Atomic47, a venture lab and technology consultancy working at the intersection of AI, emerging technology, and business transformation.

Karen is also deeply engaged in ethical innovation and AI governance, and has completed all three levels of the Innovation Governance Program through the Council of Canadian Innovators.

Learn more:
Karen on LinkedIn | Atomic47 Labs - Company Website | Substack

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— Ashley Smith (@ashleysmithnow)