AI Usage Guidelines

Confidential Information 

Information that is not publicly available, may or may not have commercial value, is communicated in confidence, and is reasonably protected. Personal information should be treated as confidential unless it is public or consent for disclosure has been obtained.

Personal Information

In accordance with BC's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), personal information means recorded information about an identifiable individual other than their business contact information. All student information is personal information.

Sensitive Personal Information

Personal information where there is a higher risk of harm if improperly collected, used, or disclosed — including health and financial information, ethnic and racial origins, employee and human resources information, political opinions, and biometric data.

Research Information

Information created, collected, received, used, shared, or reviewed in connection with research, scholarship, or creative practice, including research data, grant or ethics materials, participant information, unpublished findings, intellectual property, and other confidential or non-public research-related content.

When using a GAI tool, you are prohibited from inputting any personal information (including sensitive personal information) or confidential information. Do not share information that you would not want to be made public.

Unless a GAI tool has undergone a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and has been approved for use by JIBC, assume that any data entered may be stored, used for model training, or disclosed to third parties. Where possible, disable the GAI tool's chat history and model training functions. In the case of any potential or actual input of personal information into a GAI tool, immediately contact JIBC's Privacy Officer. Staff and faculty considering a new GAI tool for institutional use must consult with the Chief Information Officer and may be required to complete a PIA prior to deployment.

It is up to individual instructors and program areas to determine whether and how GAI tools may be used in their courses. These expectations may vary between programs, courses, and assignments. For more information, visit the GAI teaching and learning guidelines.

The responsible use of AI in academic work must align with JIBC's Student Academic Integrity Policy and Integrity of Research and Scholarship policy. While AI tools can assist in learning — such as brainstorming ideas, summarizing content, or enhancing writing — they must be used ethically and with transparency. Submitting AI-generated work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a violation of academic integrity. For more information, visit the GAI Academic Integrity Guidelines.

Research information — including confidential or personal information collected during research — must not be entered into publicly available GAI tools. Research may be subject to additional institutional, funder, ethical, and responsible conduct of research requirements beyond the scope of these guidelines.

Confidentiality of research records must be maintained during and after employment or affiliation with JIBC, in accordance with applicable legal, ethical, institutional, funder, and research conduct requirements.

Use of GAI in research activities, including course-based research, must be disclosed in accordance with applicable institutional, ethical, funder, publisher, partner, and research oversight requirements. Disclosures should be accurate, proportionate, and sufficient to support transparency, accountability, privacy, confidentiality, and research integrity.

Team leaders and managers are encouraged to explore how GAI can support their teams in working more efficiently or effectively.

• Before adopting a new GAI tool, or applying GAI to a substantively new type of work, staff must discuss the intended use with their manager or team leader and obtain approval.
• When GAI has materially shaped a work product, for example, a report, communication, presentation, or analysis, staff should acknowledge that use when sharing the work with others. A brief note identifying the tool and the nature of its contribution is sufficient (e.g., "Initial draft generated with Microsoft Copilot, reviewed and edited by the author.").
• Team leaders should consult with the Chief Information Officer regarding planned GAI tool usage.
• All GAI-generated output must be reviewed before use. Submission of unreviewed work is not acceptable under any circumstances.
• Staff must understand how their use aligns with FIPPA, these guidelines, and JIBC's Acceptable Use and Confidentiality policies.

GAI platforms carry a number of known risks that users should be aware of:

• Bias and harm: GAI models may reflect and amplify biases present in their training data, potentially causing harm across the intersectional identities within our community.
• Privacy exposure: Information entered into GAI tools may be used for model training or disclosed to third parties, creating risks under FIPPA.
• Inaccuracies: GAI tools can produce plausible-sounding but factually incorrect information (commonly known as "hallucinations").
• Lack of explainability: GAI outputs often cannot be traced to specific sources, making verification difficult.
• Environmental impact: The computing infrastructure required by GAI systems has a significant environmental footprint.
• Copyright infringement: There is currently no precedent in Canada for whether AI models and AI users are infringing copyright by uploading copyrighted works into AI tools.