From business student to award-winning innovator, Delaney Thompson is proving people don’t need a computer science degree to make an impact with artificial intelligence
Barrie native Delaney Thompson is finding success in the world of artificial intelligence (AI).
The Georgian College graduate recently co-founded Caddie, an AI-powered screening tool that works to help Canadian businesses stay compliant with new resumé privacy legislation set to be launched in January 2026.
The goal of the platform is to help employers hire faster by replacing the early stages of recruiting such as sifting through stacks of resumés, screening calls, and candidate tracking.
“It helps the employer cut out all of the easy-AI applications that are all AI-generated,” she told BarrieToday during a video interview while in Mexico for work.
With several new laws coming into place in January — including a new requirement to follow up with candidates after 45 days, salary disclosure, and retaining hiring records for three years — the platform will help businesses become compliant quickly and easily, she said.
Businesses using the platform are given a QR code, or they can link the platform to their Indeed web page, she said.
“The QR code is for anyone coming into anywhere they are hiring with a paper resumé. Instead of that, they scan the QR code and upload their resumé. It parses the information from their resumé, shows it to the business in a clean user interface, and we are going to be able to store that information in one system.”
Online applications, she explained, are linked through Indeed and stored in one system where the employer can easily peruse applicants.
“Everybody formats their resumé differently. What we do is we parse the resumé and keep it clean. Do they have the requirements you’ve asked for or the education? If you want to view their resumé, you can, but at least when you’re quickly skimming through, you can do it efficiently.”
The first version of the platform, called a minimum viable product — meaning the earliest version of a product — was built last June, she said.
“I don’t have a technology background. I didn’t study computer science, so we used a lot of AI to build what we first built. Now we have a developer full-time in house, and with our new native solution, that is not the janky version that I first made, it’s taken us four months.”
Creation of the newest version also used a significant amount of AI, she said, adding the technology has allowed them to plug the software into AI, which can then quickly search out bugs, security risks, or broken code.
“It just allows you to move so much faster. Five years ago, what we built would have taken years and a development team of 20 people,” she said.
A graduate of Georgian’s business program, Thompson admitted she never expected her future would lead into software development and technology — but it seems to be working out well. In fact, her innovation recently earned her recognition as Young AI Role Model of the Year for North America at the Women in AI Summit held in Toronto in June.
“As a young entrepreneur, and somebody in AI, there is a lot of imposter syndrome. A lot of the people I am working with are older men who have been working in AI and technology for a really long time. This just helped keep us going on our mission. It was nice to be recognized, and I was among a lot of really cool women who are doing a lot of research.” she said.
AI can be a frightening concept for many, but it doesn’t need to be, she insisted.
Instead, Thompson said people should look at it as a tool that can help simplify their lives, especially in business.
“It is really one of the greatest tools that we could be using right now. It’s really going to amplify people’s productivity. In our business, we would not be where we are right now without the use of AI,” she said. “We are in a unique time where it is still new. I definitely understand the scary side of it, like when you really look at the big picture and what it can do, but small scale — even in terms of what we are building with compliance — a lot of it is just allowing you to move way faster.”
Without the use of a platform such as Caddie, Thompson said it would likely take an employer several hours every week just to keep on top of the administration involved.
“This is allowing you to do it at the push of a button, and then focus on the things that are actually going to further your business or further your life,” she said. “If everyone can be more productive at their day job, they have more time to focus on themselves and their family. It will just free up a lot of time from doing mundane admin tasks if you’re using it correctly.”
Barrie native Delaney Thompson, left, co-founder and chief product officer of Caddie, was named the 2025 Young AI Role Model of the Year for North America at the Women in AI Summit in Toronto in June. | Image supplied