Conferences

AI, Future Skills, and Productivity Conference: An International Conference

Thursday, May 7, 2026 - Friday, May 8, 2026 St. John's, NFLD

Event description

In the wake of the pandemic, generative AI tools such as GPT, Claude, and Gemini are transforming the global labour market. Despite popular fears of a “job apocalypse,” AI is also giving rise to new roles, for example, training AI agents. However, the broader implications for productivity, skills, and career development remain poorly understood. This conference provides a forum for knowledge exchange among academic, policy, and practitioner communities.

Speakers

Stephen Tapp, PhD

Stephen Tapp, PhD

CEO and Chief Economist, CSLS

Stephen Tapp is the CEO and Chief Economist at CSLS. He previously served as Chief Economist and SVP of Research, Data and Analytics at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, where he launched and managed the Business Data Lab. Stephen is the President of the Canadian Association for Business Economics and a member of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council.

 

He has 25 years of diverse experience at many of Canada’s top economic organizations, including Export Development Canada as the Deputy Chief Economist, the Bank of Canada, Parliamentary Budget Office, Finance Canada, academia, as well as think tanks, such as the Institute for Research on Public Policy and the C.D. Howe Institute. Stephen’s research was awarded the Purvis prize for Canadian economic policy and has been published in academic journals, including the Canadian Journal of Economics and Canadian Public Policy. He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Queen’s University and an Honours B.A. in Economics with Distinction from Western University.

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