Resources for staff

As a faculty or staff member at SFU, you are expected to use AI tools in a transparent and responsible manner, ensuring your actions align with university policies and guidelines. The following section provides information on best practices, examples, tools and guidance to help you effectively integrate and responsibly use AI in your work.

What is generative AI? 

There are many types of Artificial Intelligence, but the one that appears frequently in current software applications is “generative AI”, also known as “GenAI”. GenAI tools are a specific type of AI that can generate new content. An application that uses GenAI can produce or summarize an email, a memo, a project plan, or pretty much any type of document. Most software applications that claim to increase your productivity by generating text or image-based content for you fall into this category. Common GenAI applications of this type are Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT. 

What you need to know

How AI collects and uses information 

These types of applications are called “intelligent” because they learn from the information users give them. They are able to output content because they were “trained” on massive sets of textual and graphical content. These applications may also use the content you give to them in order to continue “learning” to generate better results.  

Therefore, users need to ensure that they never input personal or confidential information into AI tools that have not undergone a SFU Privacy Impact Assessment. If Personal or Confidential information is used to further train AI applications, that data may inadvertently end up being disclosed to other users of those applications both inside and outside of SFU.  

This presents serious risks including privacy law violations, reputational damage to the university and irreversible loss of control over the information disclosed. 

Your responsibilities 

Faculty and staff are responsible for the data they input into AI-enabled software tools. Pause before you upload any SFU data to an AI tool. Consult with your supervisor if you are uncertain if the particular program you are intending on using has completed an SFU Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). For more information on PIAs visit the Privacy Impact Assessments page at the SFU Archives and Records Management (ARMD) website.

Before disclosing or entering personal or confidential information into software tool that says it uses AI, you should always check with your supervisor, to ensure an SFU PIA has been completed for the software tool. If a PIA has not been completed, or you are uncertain if a PIA has been completed for the particular tool you intend on using, check with your supervisor and explain to them how you are planning to use the AI software tool to ensure that your use complies with university policies and guidelines. You should always review the data that you are inputting into the AI tool to ensure that you are not disclosing any Confidential or Personal information (these terms are defined at the end of this document). 

You are responsible for the results AI-enabled tools you use. After using AI software tools, you should always review the results from these tools to ensure that they are accurate, reliable and fair.   

Best practices for personal or work use of GenAI 

• Take responsibility: In all cases, remember that GenAI is just a tool, and that you are responsible for the data you input into it and for using the results it provides to you. 
• Review for Personal or Confidential data and suitability: You should always review information and documents you are giving GenAI to ensure that you are not leaking any Personal or Confidential data and review the results from GenAI to ensure that they meet your needs. 
• Review for accuracy: If you're using generative AI to help create content, make sure to double-check the results for accuracy, follow any relevant SFU policies or guidelines, and give credit to sources utilized when needed. 
• Disclose use: When you use what GenAI has created, you should include a statement that says you used a GenAI application to assist in the preparation of the document or information, for example "GenAI was used to help create this document."

Learning: AI at SFU

Staying up to date on AI helps us work smarter, adapt to change, and stay competitive. As AI continues to evolve, learning about it ensures we use it responsibly and effectively in our roles. The following resources are now available at SFU:

• Approved AI tools at SFU
• Introduction to Copilot Chat
• Introduction to prompts in Copilot Chat
• Responsible AI (RAI) while using Copilot
• Privacy and Security Guidance for using Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Overview of Copliot at SFU: This Canvas course is available for SFU faculty and staff.

SFU is developing additional Canvas courses that cover more general topics including the limitations of AI, responsible use of AI and prompt literacy. When they are available, they will be linked from here.

Prefer to see these guidelines in a document? Download Guidelines for using AI in your daily work (PDF)

Please note: The guidelines apply to activities performed by SFU faculty and staff other than during teaching, learning, or research activities. For guidance on using AI tools in teaching and learning, see latest updates here: AI in learning and teaching. Guidance for SFU researchers can be found here: AI in research.

If your inquiry cannot be answered through the resources on our AI webpages, please email the relevant subject expert office below with your questions: 

• Privacy queries can be sent to privacy@sfu.ca
• Information Security queries can be sent to information-security@sfu.ca   
• Risk queries can be sent to risk_srs@sfu.ca  
• Copyright queries can be sent to copy@sfu.ca
• Procurement queries can be sent to procurement@sfu.ca