Before using a generative AI tool as part of your work at McMaster University, please review the Provisional Guidelines on the Use of Generative AI in Operational Excellence and discuss with your supervisor. The following questions from the guidelines can help guide this conversation. It’s recommended that you document your agreement on how you will approach each question.
Questions to consider and discuss:
- What types of work within my role could benefit from generative AI use?
- What types of work within my job description should not use generative AI?
- How should I document and disclose when I have used generative AI within my work? What level of use (e.g. brainstorming, drafting, copy editing, coding) warrants disclosure of use?
- What level of transparency is required to satisfy privacy requirements? How do I ensure everyone involved in the work I am doing understands how we will use (or not use) generative AI?
- When and how will these considerations be revisited? How will I share my experiences using generative AI with my supervisor/team?
To help you think through possible tasks, you can start by reviewing your job description or consider day-to-day tasks that could benefit from experimentation or use of generative AI (e.g. brainstorming, summary of notes, email drafting, copy editing, data analysis, report writing, documentation). Consider:
- What value might generative AI bring to this task?
- How might generative AI support or assist in your work on this task?
- What are some of the possible uses of generative AI in your work or responsibilities?
- Do you foresee any risks or negative impacts in using generative AI in this work?
Frequently Asked Questions
Do not upload or share confidential, personal, personal health or proprietary information with a generative AI tool unless a data security and risk assessment and a privacy and algorithmic assessment have been completed for the specific tool. You should review the privacy policy and user agreement of generative AI tools and consult with the Privacy Office, Information Security, or the Office of Legal Services to address any questions or concerns about privacy policies or terms and conditions found in user agreements. Subscribing to notification processes for tool updates can be a helpful way to stay informed about significant changes to user agreements. Learn more by completing your privacy training and information security training.
For any personal or sensitive data McMaster has an enterprise license for Microsoft Copilot which ensures that, when logged in using McMaster credentials, data used is not shared with either Microsoft or McMaster and confidential, person, or proprietary information can therefore be used.
Legal questions of intellectual property (such as copyright and privacy continue to be evaluated by provincial and federal courts. Until such questions are resolved, employees should not use generative AI created content for proprietary work, to autonomously make decisions (e.g. hiring), or to create content embedded in other university systems (e,g., Mosaic, Slate, Active Directory) and all McMaster policies continue to remain in effect.
Before pursuing a new generative AI tool, McMaster employees and teams can engage with University Technology Services to consider if there are other existing applications, technologies and resources that could meet the need that have already been assessed for use by university employees. You should also complete an Early Privacy Risk Check which may lead to a fuller Privacy and Algorithmic Impact Assessment (PAIA). This process enables you to work in partnership with the Privacy Office to identify risks of regulatory non-compliance and manage those risks through mitigation planning.
Citation and disclosure practices will vary by context. Check with colleagues in your area or similar roles at other institutions to consider what emerging norms for citation or disclosure may be. You can also refer to McMaster Library’s Generative AI citation guide for ideas.
You may find it helpful to develop a collaborative working document that includes use cases of generative AI. For example, a sample acknowledgement could read: “[Name of generative AI tool] was used in the creation/drafting/editing of this document. I have evaluated this document for accuracy.”
To help you make these decisions, consider:
- What might be some reasons our [key consulted groups] might need or want to be aware that generative AI was used in this [type of work]?
- How do we ensure that everyone involved in a project or process that uses generative AI is aware and agrees to the use?
- What possible risks to our credibility or expertise are present if we do not disclose use of generative AI in this [type of work]?
- What professional obligations do we have to be transparent with our use of generative AI in our area?
You can contact macgenai@mcmaster.ca with any questions about the use of generative AI at McMaster.