AI-Assisted Analysis of Committee Member Surveys

Research & Development

What it collects

About behaviour

Anonymized data

Survey responses submitted by committee members, reflecting their opinions, assessments, and feedback on SSHRC programs or processes.

Run by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Where: No fixed location
Kept: Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with: Accountable organization

What it is for

Research & Development

This system uses AI to analyze large volumes of responses from surveys completed by committee members at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). It is used by Government of Canada employees to process survey data more efficiently. The system was developed by an external vendor, Softchoice Corporation, and is currently in production.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

About behaviour

Anonymized data

Survey responses submitted by committee members, reflecting their opinions, assessments, and feedback on SSHRC programs or processes.

Processing

Classification & Prediction

Processes and classifies large volumes of survey text and structured responses to surface patterns, themes, or summary statistics from committee member feedback.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)

Human decides

The system analyzes and synthesizes high volumes of survey responses, producing classifications or summaries that GC employees review and act upon.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction

Anonymized data

Aggregated analysis and summaries of survey responses provided to GC employees for review and decision-making; individual survey data is not attributed to specific respondents in outputs.

Run by

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

SSHRC is the federal granting agency that deploys this AI system internally to analyze committee member survey responses submitted by Government of Canada employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — Survey analysis

Built by

Softchoice

Softchoice Corporation is the external vendor that developed the survey analysis AI system on behalf of SSHRC.

Government of Canada AI Register — Survey analysis

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization

Outputs of the analysis are available to SSHRC employees (GC employees) who use the results to inform program decisions. There is no indication of third-party data sharing.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

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 Algorithmic TransparencySSHRC has published this AI system on the Government of Canada's AI and Algorithmic Impact Assessment Register, providing public transparency about the system's purpose and use. For more information, consult the Government of Canada's AI register at open.canada.ca.

Risks and safeguards

Reputational harmAI-generated analysis of survey responses could mischaracterize or misclassify committee member feedback, leading to unfair or inaccurate conclusions about individuals or groups.Safeguard: The system is used by GC employees who are expected to review AI outputs before acting on them (human-in-the-loop), and the register entry indicates primary users are GC employees rather than automated downstream systems.