In this exclusive CanadianSME Small Business Magazine interview, Ryan Mackay, Managing Director of Neural Networks at Gallea Ai, shares how he helps Canadian small and mid-sized businesses move from AI hype to concrete, revenue-driving impact. Drawing on his strategy background and work shaping enterprise AI roadmaps, he explains why “answer engines” are reshaping how customers discover businesses, how layered AI adoption can make existing systems work harder instead of starting from scratch, and how conversational, AI-powered website experiences can give early adopters a lasting edge—so SMEs can embrace AI while staying true to their identity and keeping teams focused rather than overwhelmed.
You describe Gallea Ai as an advisory-led firm helping SMBs turn AI into a practical competitive advantage. For business owners used to thinking in terms of “SEO and Google,” what exactly is Answer Engine Optimization, and why should they be paying attention to it right now?
The simplest way I can explain it is this. SEO was about ranking on a page of results. AEO is about being the answer itself.
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI a question about your industry, they do not get ten links to browse. They get a direct answer, often citing one or two businesses by name. Answer Engine Optimization is the discipline of structuring your content, your technical infrastructure, and your digital authority so that AI platforms recognize your business as a credible source worth citing in that answer.
It is not a replacement for SEO. Think of it as the next layer. SEO gets you ranked. AEO gets you referenced. And as more customer journeys start with a question to an AI platform rather than a keyword in a search bar, being referenced is what actually drives the business outcome.
The shift is already well underway. Over two billion queries flow through AI-powered platforms every month, and that number is growing fast. The businesses that understand how these platforms decide who to cite and who to ignore are the ones that will own their categories going forward. That is what AEO is really about.
Consumer behaviour is shifting from keyword search to conversational “answer engines” like AI chat platforms. How does this change the way Canadian SMBs get discovered, and what can they do today to improve their chances of being cited or recommended in these new channels?
For most Canadian SMBs, their entire digital strategy was built around one assumption: customers Google something, click a result, and land on your website. That assumption is breaking. Millions of people are now asking AI platforms their questions directly and acting on whatever answer comes back, often without clicking anything at all.
That sounds like a threat, but for smaller businesses it is actually one of the best opportunities to come along in years. These AI platforms do not care about your ad budget or your domain age. They care about whether your content is clear, credible, and directly answers the question being asked. A specialized business with genuine expertise can get cited ahead of a national brand with a generic web presence.
My advice is to start getting curious. Ask ChatGPT about your own industry and see who gets mentioned. See if your business comes up. That exercise alone will tell you a lot about where you stand. And if you want help turning what you find into a concrete strategy, our team is always happy to have that conversation.
Many smaller businesses assume that adopting AI means ripping out what already works or investing in huge, complex systems. From your perspective, what is the biggest mistake SMBs make when they first think about AI—and what does a more practical, layered approach look like?
The biggest mistake is the assumption that AI means starting over. I hear it constantly. Business owners think they need to replace their systems, restructure their teams, and somehow become a technology company overnight. That belief paralyzes SMBs.
The truth is the opposite. The best AI strategies start with what you already have and make it work harder. Your content, your customer knowledge, your internal processes, your industry expertise. That is the raw material. AI is what activates it.
A practical approach is layered, not wholesale. You do not transform everything at once. You identify the area of your business where AI can have the most immediate impact, you implement there, you see results, and you build from there. Maybe that is how your customers find you. Maybe that is how your team creates content. Maybe that is how you onboard new hires or manage client communications. The starting point is different for every business, but the principle is the same. Start where it matters most and expand from a position of confidence, not panic.
You’re also working on a conversational platform that aims to replace static website navigation with intelligent, dialogue-driven experiences. Without going into confidential details, how do you see the typical business website evolving over the next few years, and what advantages will early adopters have?
We have all become comfortable talking to AI. You ask a question and get a thoughtful answer instantly. Then you land on a business website and you are back to clicking menus and scanning pages. It feels like stepping out of a conversation and into a filing cabinet.
That disconnect is why we built AiOS at Gallea Ai. We think of it as an AI operating system for the website, powered by an enterprise-grade tech stack including providers such as IBM. Instead of forcing visitors to navigate pages, they explain what they need. The system responds in the company’s brand voice and guides them toward answers, solutions, or purchases through natural conversation. The next generation of websites will not be navigated. They will be spoken to.
Every interaction becomes intelligence. AiOS learns what customers ask, what matters to them, and what ultimately drives them to act. A website should not just display information. It should understand the person visiting it.
The businesses that adopt this early gain something competitors cannot shortcut. Every conversation makes the system smarter, every insight compounds, and the gap between you and everyone still relying on static pages grows wider every day.
You started your career shaping AI strategy at a large consulting firm and then chose to focus on small and mid-sized businesses through Gallea Ai. What motivates that focus, and what one piece of advice would you offer Canadian SMB leaders who want to benefit from AI without losing their identity or overwhelming their teams?
Working in strategy consulting, I had a front row seat to what AI could do and I saw two extremes. Large organizations were trying to implement AI everywhere at once. Meanwhile, many small and mid-sized businesses felt the entire conversation was too complex and stayed on the sidelines.
In the middle of that, I saw how a focused AI strategy applied to the right problem can make a massive impact without the complexity. And because SMBs are closer to their customers and operations, the results can be immediate in ways large enterprises struggle to replicate.
That belief is the foundation of Gallea Ai. From optimizing businesses for AI-driven discovery to building intelligent website experiences with AiOS, we bring enterprise-grade AI capability to businesses that historically would not have had access to it, enabled through partnerships like ours with IBM.
My advice is simple. You do not need ten AI initiatives. You need one that fundamentally improves how your customers experience your business. Ensure whatever you implement makes your business feel more like itself, not less. The companies that use AI to strengthen their identity are the ones that will lead. That is what we help our clients do.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
