SR&ED for AI & machine learning
AI work draws a lot of SR&ED attention, and a lot of over-claiming. Calling an OpenAI API or fine-tuning a model the documented way is rarely eligible; pushing past what known methods can do often is.
The uncertainty has to be technological, not just 'we hadn't built it yet'.
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Where the eligible work usually is
- Developing a novel model architecture or training method where standard approaches demonstrably failed.
- Achieving accuracy, latency or resource targets that the known techniques couldn't meet for your problem.
- Working with data conditions — scarcity, noise, distribution shift — where the outcome of an approach was genuinely uncertain.
- Systematic experimentation across hypotheses, with results that advanced what you knew, even the negative ones.
What usually doesn't qualify
Applying an existing model or API, fine-tuning by the book, standard data labelling and pipeline plumbing, and prompt engineering generally aren't SR&ED. That the application is new to the market doesn't matter; the test is whether resolving it required advancing technology beyond the existing knowledge base.
The evidence AI work leaves behind
ML teams generate excellent contemporaneous evidence: experiment logs and metrics, notebooks, model-versioning history, ablation results, and the commits behind them. SREDlog connects GitHub and reads that trail to surface the systematic investigation and draft the narrative around the hypotheses you actually tested.
Frequently asked questions
Almost never the whole thing. The eligible portion is the specific work where the outcome was technologically uncertain, not the product build, integration or UI around it.
Usually not on its own. Fine-tuning by established methods is routine. It can be eligible if doing it required resolving a genuine technological uncertainty through systematic experimentation.
Experiment logs, metrics, ablations and model-version history are strong records. SREDlog organizes them against the project. See evidence management.
Claim the research, not the plumbing
Start a free trial and let SREDlog surface the genuinely experimental work from your training history.
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This guide is general information, not tax advice. SR&ED rules, rates and limits change, so confirm the current figures with the CRA or your advisor before you file.