Artificial intelligence has moved from a line item in technology deals to a force that shapes how Canadian companies are valued, how their risks are managed, and how disputes over them will be fought. Across sectors, lawyers say AI is no longer a niche concern for software businesses – it is part of the standard analysis on almost any transaction, any security posture, and a fast-growing share of the claims now reaching the courts.
AI enters the valuation equation
“AI is everywhere in M&A now,” says Curtis Cusinato, a partner in the Toronto office of Bennett Jones LLP, from sourcing platforms through to post-closing integration. The clearest gains are in diligence – “Data sites powered by AI can streamline diligence,” he tells Lexpert – but the harder questions are about value, and turn on ownership and how “pristine” the data is. Konata Lake, a partner at Torys LLP, frames it as a test of underlying worth: “The question now is how AI affects the value of those assets and future opportunities.” Andrea Johnson, who leads the national corporate group at Dentons Canada LLP, says buyers now rate targets “red, yellow, or green in terms of AI adoption,” but cautions that adoption alone earns no premium. At Gowling WLG, partner Duncan Snyder warns that real capability must be separated from “AI branding,” while the work, he says, stays anchored in “risk identification, mitigation, and judgment.”
Cybersecurity becomes a board-level question
The same technology is widening the attack surface. “We are in yet another wave of major attacks,” says Adam Kardash, co-chair of the national privacy and data management practice at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, pointing to ransomware, data exfiltration, supply chain compromises, and AI-assisted intrusions rising at once. Information security governance, he tells Lexpert, is the non-negotiable starting point, and the threat is relentless: “It’s going to be a continuous battle for organizations across all sectors to deal with the evolving threat actor landscape.” When a serious breach hits, Kardash says the hardest part is often the messaging, where “Legal ends up playing an outsized role in ensuring consistency and appropriate communications tailored for the range of stakeholders.” Travis Walker, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, adds that boards can no longer treat this as a technical concern: “These are enterprise organizational level risks, and the governance really needs to reflect that,” with the supply chain often the weakest link. He points to LifeLabs, 2024 ONSC 2194 (Div Ct), which reset assumptions about privilege over forensic reports, and with critical infrastructure cybersecurity legislation and privacy reform both before Parliament, his advice is plain: “As this stuff gets tabled, start planning now.”
A new wave of AI-related claims takes shape
The disputes are already arriving. Sana Halwani, a partner at Lenczner Slaght LLP who represents the Canadian media companies suing OpenAI over alleged scraping of copyrighted content, tells Lexpert she sees the litigation as only beginning: “I think we’re still at the leading edge of cases that are going to be brought against large AI companies.” She expects terms-of-use violations to feature in most of them – an exposure that, as Andrew Bernstein, a partner at Torys LLP, notes, reaches into everyday corporate use of the tools, not just the developers who build them. A second front is opening around negligence and product liability, with Canadian plaintiffs increasingly choosing US courts. Mark Fancourt-Smith, a partner at Lawson Lundell LLP, points to the incentive: “The cost of damages available to a plaintiff through jury trials in the States is often in excess of what you see awards made in Canada.” A third category is emerging too – claims by parties harmed indirectly by someone else’s use of AI – a trend lawyers expect to cross the border, since what happens in US courts often follows in Canada.
The through-line is consistent. Whether the question is what a company is worth, how it is protected, or who is liable when something goes wrong, AI has become central to the legal analysis rather than an adjunct to it. The tools are advancing quickly, but the lawyer’s core function has only become more important.
The Lexpert Special Edition on Technology brings these themes together, profiling the top-ranked technology lawyers helping clients navigate AI in dealmaking, cybersecurity, and the claims now emerging across the market.