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The topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to be a confusing and delicate topic to navigate, and the Town of Oliver experienced that reality anew in recent Council discussions.
A draft AI Usage policy was presented at the April 7 Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting, to regulate how the Town approaches AI when dealing with Town business, including documents, presentations and bylaws. This policy would address qualms surrounding the rise of “open” AI, including programs such as ChatGPT and Gemini, in particular.
Under the new policy, AI use for Town matters would be limited to the Microsoft Copilot system, which is installed on all of the devices issued to Council or used by Town staff.
In response to later concerns from Water Councillor Rick Machial, the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer, Wayne Anderson, explained how Copilot is different from “open” AI systems, and would be deemed safe for Town use.
“You could pull (documents) into Copilot, and you know that it’s working within our enterprise environment,” Anderson said. “It’s not creating a history of these search results, that other people go in and do another search, and they go ‘oh, I see the Town of Oliver has some data here that’s been analyzed’.
“When you pull it into these tools outside the environment, you risk the possibility that others start to search, and that history is there, and they start to pull this data, which we really didn’t want to expose to everyone else.”
The policy as drafted would have applied to a generic “users” category, encompassing anyone with access to the Town’s software. After much discussion amongst Council, an alternative “Staff, Council, and contractors” term was proposed by Deputy Corporate Officer Brieanne Mader.
A provision in the policy would also require staff to review and confirm any AI-generated content produced from Copilot before formalizing it through sharing, publishing, or making “an official Town position”. Staff would also be required to note that applicable content used the Copilot system.
In addition to “open” AI systems being prohibited for Town matters, the staff, Council, and contractors that use the Copilot system would be barred from entering personal and/or confidential information into the system, with information referring to what’s defined by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).
Councillor Terry Schafer’s main worry was that the Town may eventually try to do too much to regulate AI.
“It just occurred to me how you (Councillor Aimee Grice) yourself used it to reorganize a presentation in progress; what’s wrong with that?” Schafer asked. “And almost everything we do, (even) when we Google something, is using AI. So it’s been evolving into our way of life. And now we’re stopping it short, and trying to make rules around it.”
Mayor Martin Johansen noted that the quandary of how to regulate AI is something other bodies of government are also struggling with.
“We went through this at the RDOS; it’s everywhere,” Johansen said. “We need to create a policy statement, but one of the challenges is AI is everywhere. I do a Google search, I get an AI answer back. I type an email, and my laptop is deciding what I’m going to say before I even say it.
“I don’t know where it starts and where it stops… This is where the conversation bogged down at the RDOS; you’re trying to limit AI use, to within this framework, but it’s happening outside of this framework whether you want it to happen or not.”
Johansen suggested that the policy should function as a “working document”, or one that gets updated or revisited regularly, an idea Councillor Petra Veintimilla backed.
“This likely becomes a living document that we look at with some regularity, as the world changes in front of us quite quickly,” Veintimilla said.
“The important part in there is just as the CAO described; that information that’s sensitive to the Town of Oliver, we’re keeping it within a closed system, and not putting it out into the world for everyone else to access.”
Council voted in favour of the recommended motion to approve the draft policy, and have it be brought up at a future Regular Council Meeting for further discussion.
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