The AI Imperative: How TSX/TSXV Issuers Can Master Generative AI to Control Narrative and Compliance

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the capital markets, moving beyond simple automation to become a strategic partner for Investor Relations (IR) professionals. In this article, we outline the key applications of AI in IR and provide an actionable roadmap and best practices for Canadian TSX and TSXV issuers looking to effectively leverage this technology.

It's important to note that the following insights are based on our analysis of emerging global AI research and observed usage trends among international issuers. They are intended strictly for informational purposes and should not be construed as prescriptive advice or a mandate from the TSX on how Canadian issuers should implement AI.

The Core AI Use Cases in IR

The value of AI lies not just in time and cost savings, but in delivering strategic insights and unlocking new productivity. These use cases can be categorized by the primary function they serve:

Actionable Roadmap for TSX/TSXV Issuers

For Canadian issuers, particularly those on the TSXV with smaller teams and budgets, the approach to AI adoption must be calculated, responsible, and compliant with Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) guidance.

1.) Start Small and Build Momentum

The quickest path to adoption is focusing on low-risk, high-volume tasks that free up the small IR team's time.

• Implement a secure enterprise-level platform (Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot). It's a small investment that's an incremental step from familiar tools.
• Focus on Summarization and Search: leverage AI to:
• Summarize internal meeting notes (where appropriate) and lengthy analyst reports
• Use AI search (e.g., Gemini's Connected Apps/Extensions or GPT's Connectors) to quickly find and retrieve specific historical data, like when your company last discussed "margin" or "CapEx" across four quarters of documents.
• Establish a Human Touch Process: Never fully automate disclosure. Run a parallel process where AI generates a draft analysis, but the IR professional always reads the full source material (e.g., peer transcript) and verifies the output for accuracy and tone before it is used. It is critical to remember that the issuer remains fully and solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and compliance of all content generated with AI assistance and subsequently disseminated to the public.

2.) Ensure Governance and CSA Compliance

Canadian securities law is generally technology-neutral, meaning the regulatory obligations apply to the activity regardless of the technology. The CSA emphasizes transparency, accountability, and specific disclosure related to AI use. It is therefore imperative that IR content created by the issuer, even when generated or polished using AI, must be clearly disclosed as being owned and created by the issuer, avoiding any implication that the content is independently authored.

Establish Guardrails and Train Models Responsibly:

• Use enterprise accounts where data is protected and not used to train the public model.
• Work with IT to color-code or segment Material Non-Public Information so the AI system knows not to use it in public-facing answers.
• Educate the Board and Executives on AI's capabilities and the risks of hallucination (fabrication) and data accuracy.
• Avoid "AI washing" (overly promotional or vague claims about AI use). Any disclosure about AI must be material, balanced, and substantiated.

Address Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Information (FLI):

• Review risk factor disclosure to include entity-specific AI-related risks (e.g., technical, operational, or reputational risks from AI use).
• If using AI to forecast or develop prospective statements, ensure it is treated as FLI with the necessary cautionary language and disclosure of material factors and assumptions. Issuers still need to ensure that any assumptions used are reasonable and appropriate.

3.) Advance to Strategic AI (The "Advisor" Persona)

Once a compliant workflow is in place, IR teams can move to leverage AI for market positioning and strategic insights.

• Target Investor Engagement: Use AI to refine investor targeting by not only identifying appropriate firms but also helping to pinpoint the specific decision-makers and analysts within those firms.
• Master Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): GEO is the practice of adapting website content and structure so that AI-driven search engines can easily find, interpret, and use it to generate direct, comprehensive answers for users. It's a proactive defense against AI misrepresentation.
• Audit Current Messaging: Search your company's investment thesis in Large Language Models based on fact finding and providing citations (like Perplexity) to see which sources are being cited. If external sites are answering, you are losing control of the narrative and to regain control, you must deploy GEO strategies to make your own narrative the clearest, most authoritative source on the web.
• Optimize IR Website: Publish an extensive, structured (easy for an AI to parse and cite) Q&A page (even hidden from direct links on the site, but crawlable by bots) to serve as the preferred source of truth for all common investor questions. Ensure all key documents are published in HTML format, which AI can crawl more easily than PDFs.
• Enhance Executive Communication: Feed AI your draft earnings script and ask it to critique the messaging based on current sell-side reports and anticipated investor concerns. Use it as a "consultant" or "reality check" to ensure your narrative is consistent and directly addresses market queries.

Best Practices for AI Adoption

• Prioritize Quality Data Sources: AI is only as good as the data it's trained on. Ensure your data is organized, scrubbed, and of high quality. Seek vendors who offer access to proprietary or unique data sets (e.g., specialized tonality scoring, internal firm data) beyond publicly available aggregates.
• Design Prompts with Output in Mind: Know what success looks like. Use a multi-step prompting approach to refine the AI's understanding, defining the tone, persona, and specific format (e.g., tables, bullet points) required.
• Be the AI Champion: Adoption often starts bottom-up. IR professionals who use AI are likely to replace those who don't. Take the initiative to learn, experiment, and showcase quick wins to the executive team to gain buy-in and budget.

The journey to integrating AI into IR is no longer a theoretical exercise but a strategic imperative. By prioritizing quality data sources as the bedrock of your AI initiatives, Canadian IROs can confidently transition from routine task management to true strategic partnership. AI's ability to streamline disclosure, anticipate market narratives, and optimize investor targeting offers a profound opportunity to amplify the IR function, ensuring that TSX and TSXV issuers remain competitive, compliant, and clearly heard in the global capital markets. Embrace this technology responsibly, and the rewards in efficiency, accuracy, and strategic influence, will fundamentally transform your role for the better.