Ontario's AI hiring disclosure rule: what employers need to know

If you employ 25 or more people and use artificial intelligence to screen, assess or select applicants for a job you advertise publicly in Ontario, the posting must say so. One sentence is enough: you don’t have to describe the system or how you use it. The rule has applied to postings made since 1 January 2026, and it applies when a recruiter or other third party does the screening for you.

This guide covers who the rule applies to, what counts as AI, the cases that aren’t obvious, sample wording, and what the statement doesn’t cover. It reflects the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s guidance as of 2 November 2026. This is not legal advice. Whether a particular tool counts as AI depends on the facts, so ask an employment lawyer about your situation.

The rule is already changing what postings look like

Indeed’s Canadian AI tracker counts postings that mention AI. In Canada the count includes postings that disclose AI use in screening. On 30 September 2026, 19% of Canadian postings mentioned AI, up from 5.7% a year earlier and well above the U.S. (7.3%), the U.K. (9.9%) and Australia (7.1%). Indeed attributes much of the jump to the Ontario rule, and says it shows “how widely Canadian employers already use AI tools to sort job applicants”.

In other words, applicants in Ontario are now used to seeing the statement. Leaving it out when you do use AI is more noticeable than it was a year ago.

For how employers actually word the statement, see our study of 2,141 Ontario job postings.

Does it apply to you?

The rule is part of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act requirements for publicly advertised job postings. Work through these in order.

1. Do you have 25 or more employees on the day the job is posted? Count people, not full-time equivalents. Part-time and casual employees count as one each, and the guidance counts employees “whether active or inactive” on that day. The Crown and Crown agencies are excluded.
2. Is it a publicly advertised job posting? That means an external posting advertised to the general public, by you or someone acting for you, for a specific position. It doesn’t include a general recruitment campaign or a “help wanted” sign that doesn’t name a position, a posting open only to your existing employees, or a job whose work is done outside Ontario.
3. Was it posted on or after 1 January 2026? The rules generally apply to postings from that date.
4. Do you, or anyone acting for you, use AI to screen, assess or select applicants for it? If yes to all four, the posting needs the statement.

The same set of rules also requires pay information, a statement on whether the job is an existing vacancy, no Canadian experience requirement, and a decision notice to interviewed applicants within 45 days. Our guide to what a job posting must disclose covers those.

What counts as artificial intelligence

The guidance defines AI as:

A machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives in order to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.

It adds that the definition “captures AI-based systems and applications ranging from simple to complex”, and that whether a particular system falls within it “will depend on the specific facts of each case”.

Two parts of the definition do most of the work. The system has to infer from its input, and it has to be used to screen, assess or select applicants. The table below applies those two tests to common setups. It is our reading of the guidance, not the Ministry’s, and the Ministry hasn’t published examples.

Setup	Our reading
An AI screening tool rates, sorts or recommends applicants	Covered. This is the case the rule was written for
Your applicant tracking system shows a match score or ranking it generates	Probably covered. Check how the score is produced
A recruiting firm screens your applicants and uses AI tools to do it	Covered. The guidance names recruiting firms explicitly
A chatbot interviews or questions applicants and passes on or filters them	Probably covered
You paste resumes into a general AI assistant and ask which are strongest	Probably covered. It is AI used to assess applicants, even if it’s informal
A fixed knockout rule (exclude anyone who answers No to “Do you hold a valid G licence?”)	Probably not, if nothing is inferred: the rule applies a stated answer. Check the tool
You used AI to help write the job description	Not screening, assessing or selecting applicants
A spelling or grammar checker in your email	Not screening, assessing or selecting applicants

The informal case is the one most likely to be missed. If anyone involved in the hire reads applications with the help of an AI assistant, ask whether that is assessing applicants. In most cases it will be.

When you can’t tell, our recommendation is to disclose. The statement costs one sentence, and you don’t need to describe the system. What you shouldn’t do is disclose AI use you don’t have: the statement should be accurate.

When a recruiter, job board or vendor is involved

The guidance is direct on this. The requirement “applies equally where the employer engages a third party (for example, a recruiting firm) to screen, assess or select applicants on their behalf”, and “the employer has the responsibility for ensuring that the required information is contained in the posting”. The same applies when a third party advertises the job for you or you post it on someone else’s site, such as a job bank.

In practice:

• Ask your recruiter in writing whether they use AI to screen, assess or select applicants for your roles, and keep the answer.
• Ask your software vendors the same question about every tool that touches applications, including the applicant tracking system, any screening add-on and any chatbot. A vendor that can’t tell you how a score is produced is a reason to disclose.
• Check every place the job appears. A statement on your careers page doesn’t help if the job board version of the posting leaves it out.

Sample wording

The guidance says it is “enough for the employer to state that artificial intelligence is used to screen, assess or select applicants”. It doesn’t provide wording. These are our suggestions, not official text. Use the one that matches what you actually do.

Minimal:

We use artificial intelligence to screen, assess or select applicants for this position.

More specific, for when AI reads applications but a person decides:

We use artificial intelligence to help assess applications against the requirements for this position. A member of our team reviews the results and makes every decision about who moves forward.

Only use a sentence like the second one if it’s true for this job. If any tool can exclude applicants without a person looking, don’t say a person makes every decision.

When a recruiter screens for you:

Applications for this position are screened by [recruiting firm], which uses artificial intelligence to screen and assess applicants.

You aren’t required to say that you don’t use AI, though some employers do. If you add it, make sure it stays true for every tool and every person involved in the hire.

Keep a copy

You must keep a copy of every publicly advertised posting, including any associated application form, for three years after it comes down. If you revise a posting while it’s up, keep each version. If the posting links to another page or document with information about the job, keep a copy of that too. Copies may be kept for you by another person, such as your recruiter, but the obligation is yours.

What the statement doesn’t do

Disclosure tells applicants that AI is involved. It doesn’t make the tool accurate or fair, and it doesn’t replace your other obligations.

• It doesn’t show the tool works. Before trusting a tool with real applicants, run the test in can AI help you identify the best applicants?
• It doesn’t check for unfair outcomes. Our screening audit shows how to find qualified people a screen turned away.
• It doesn’t make human review meaningful. If you tell applicants a person reviews the results, make sure the review is real. Our guide to reviewing an AI shortlist shows how.
• It doesn’t cover other places. If you also hire outside Ontario, other rules apply. New York City, for example, requires a bias audit and advance notice for some automated hiring tools. See what a job posting must disclose.

Checklist before you post

1. Count employees on the posting date: people, not full-time equivalents, active or inactive. Is it 25 or more?
2. Confirm it’s covered: an external posting for a specific position, with the work in Ontario.
3. List everything that will read, sort, score or filter applications, including recruiters and the tools they use.
4. For each, ask whether it infers anything from an application to screen, assess or select. If any answer is yes, or you can’t tell, add the statement.
5. Check the wording is true for this job, especially any claim about human review.
6. Check every version of the posting, including job boards and recruiters’ sites.
7. Add the other Ontario items while you’re there: pay, vacancy status, no Canadian experience requirement.
8. Save a copy of the posting, each revision and any linked pages, and keep them for three years.

The job posting checklist (PDF) puts the AI statement together with the other Ontario items on one page.

Where SortTheStack fits

SortTheStack uses AI to assess every application against the requirements you write, so a job screened with it needs the statement when the Ontario rule applies. Job postings on its careers page include a statement that the employer uses artificial intelligence to help screen and assess applicants, added automatically rather than left to someone to remember. If you also post the job somewhere else, such as a job board or your own website, add the statement there yourself.

Setting aside clear mismatches automatically is off by default. If you switch it on for a job, choose your posting’s wording with that in mind. When you close a job, SortTheStack sends candidates still at the Interviewing stage a neutral notice that a decision has been made. See how the screening works.

Sources

• Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Requirements related to publicly advertised job postings (updated 24 February 2026), accessed 2 November 2026.
• Indeed Hiring Lab, Q3 2026 Canadian labour market update (27 October 2026), accessed 2 November 2026.