Business use Principles

Scope and Limits

KPU has existing policies and procedures that govern how to appropriately use technology and manage confidential and private information.  The use of generative AI tools must be aligned with these policies and procedures.

These guidelines apply to excluded administrative employees, BCGEU support staff, casual employees, student assistants, and faculty members.  Teaching faculty and students have additional guidelines provided by the Teaching and Learning Commons which also apply to them.  Employees must use and follow the relevant guidelines when engaging with AI in the workplace.  Any requests for technology purchases by KPU or for technology that requires download or integration into other applications or access to a KPU-issued device must continue to follow the normal IT request and approval process.

Guiding Principles

The following guiding principles incorporate the known best practices for the responsible and ethical use of AI and describe KPU’s commitment to providing employees with opportunities to realize the benefits of AI, while also mitigating against biases and other harms, and safeguarding private and confidential information.

  • Accountable:  Employees who use generative AI tools are responsible and accountable for the content created by these tools and the impact of their use.  This includes ensuring that the generated content is accurate, legal, ethical, and compliant with KPU’s policies and procedures. 
  • Explainable:  Employees must be able to articulate how, why, and when AI is used in their day-to-day work. AI tools are not the best choice in every situation and employees should clearly indicate when they have used AI to develop content.
  • Inclusive:  AI tools can produce content that is discriminatory and/or based on biases.  Employees must evaluate the outputs of AI systems to identify any inaccuracies (also known as hallucinations).  This includes assessing for biases and non-inclusive content.
  • Reliable:  When used correctly, AI tools can be leveraged to increase work product quality. However, AI can also produce content that appears to be reliable but is in fact inaccurate, nonsensical, or inconsistent with credible and reputable sources.  If the quality of the content can’t be confirmed or verified, it shouldn’t be used.
  • Secure:  Employees must use AI systems in a way that is consistent with KPU’s policies, procedures, and values.  Employees are responsible for ensuring that personal, proprietary, confidential, and other sensitive information is not shared, and that technology is used in a responsible manner. It is important to note that personal information may be shared simply in the set-up of an account or through the transit of data that the tools collect such as user location, IP address or the prompts.