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Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

AI Assistant for Internal Knowledge and Productivity

Inform · Employment & Work

What it collects

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Curated collections of internal departmental documents constituting domain-specific knowledge stores. Updated periodically via data pipelines such as Azure Synapse. No personal information is included.
About behaviour
Anonymized data
  • Employee queries and prompts entered into the conversational interface at runtime. The register states no personal information is involved, though query text may carry incidental contextual content.
Run by
Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization
Your copy
You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

InformEmployment & Work

This system is a secure, internal AI chatbot used by Global Affairs Canada employees to search and converse with curated internal documents using AI-generated responses. It uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation to ground answers in departmental knowledge stores. The system is not used with personal information and operates solely within the Government of Canada's internal environment. Employees are currently not informed when they are interacting with an AI system.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Curated collections of internal departmental documents constituting domain-specific knowledge stores. Updated periodically via data pipelines such as Azure Synapse. No personal information is included.
About behaviour
Anonymized data
  • Employee queries and prompts entered into the conversational interface at runtime. The register states no personal information is involved, though query text may carry incidental contextual content.

Processing

Search & Retrieval
  • Azure ADA-3 embeddings are used to perform vector-based semantic search over indexed departmental document stores, retrieving relevant passages that are then passed to GPT-4 for response generation (Retrieval-Augmented Generation pipeline).
Language Models
  • OpenAI GPT-4, accessed via Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, generates conversational responses grounded in retrieved document passages.

What it does

Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • The system uses semantic understanding to match employee queries to relevant passages in curated internal document collections, grounding AI responses in departmental knowledge via Retrieval-Augmented Generation.
Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • GPT-4 generates natural-language responses to employee queries. Employees review and decide how to use the generated content; the system operates in an advisory capacity only.

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • AI-generated natural-language responses to employee queries, grounded in retrieved passages from internal departmental documents. Output is advisory; no binding decisions are made by the system.

Run by

Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
  • Global Affairs Canada is the federal department accountable for deploying and operating the GAC GPT system for use by Government of Canada employees.

GAC GPT Register Entry

Built by

Government of Canada
  • The system was developed internally by the Government of Canada, leveraging Microsoft Azure, Azure OpenAI (GPT-4), and ADA-3 embedding services.

GAC GPT Register Entry

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Not available to me
  • The system is an internal Government of Canada tool. Its outputs and logs are not accessible to the general public or to individuals outside the GC employee user base.
Available to the accountable organization
  • Query logs and system outputs are available to Global Affairs Canada as the accountable organization. Access scope for audit or oversight purposes is not described in the register entry.

Stored

Stored on 3rd Party Cloud
  • The system is built on Microsoft Azure, including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Synapse, indicating data processing and storage on third-party cloud infrastructure. Specific data residency jurisdiction is not stated in the register.
  • Duration: Not specified
How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Be Informed of AI UseThe register states that AI use is NOT currently disclosed to users. GC employees interacting with GAC GPT are not informed that they are using an AI system. This is a transparency gap; employees should be made aware of AI involvement in their workflow.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyNo information is provided in the register about employee rights to understand how the AI system works or how responses are generated. Employees wishing to learn more may consult the AI register entry at the source URL.

Risks and safeguards

  • Societal & cultural harmEmployees may not be aware they are receiving AI-generated responses, potentially over-relying on outputs without critical review, or mistaking AI-generated text for verified government information.Safeguard: The system is currently not disclosing AI use to employees (per register). No formal mitigation is described. Recommended: implement clear AI disclosure at the point of interaction.