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Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

AI-Assisted Boolean Search for Media Monitoring

Inform

What it collects

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Staff-provided search topics, keywords, and existing boolean query strings describing the media monitoring subjects of interest (e.g. financial consumer protection, agency news). No personal information about consumers is provided as input.
Run by
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization, Vendor

What it is for

Inform

This tool helps Financial Consumer Agency of Canada staff build more effective search queries to monitor media coverage. It uses AI to suggest improvements to boolean search strings within a commercial media monitoring platform provided by Meltwater. The system is used internally by staff and does not directly affect members of the public. The key transparency point is that this is an internal productivity aid — no personal information about consumers is processed or decided upon by the AI.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Staff-provided search topics, keywords, and existing boolean query strings describing the media monitoring subjects of interest (e.g. financial consumer protection, agency news). No personal information about consumers is provided as input.

Processing

Language Models
  • The integrated AI tool within Meltwater uses language model capabilities to interpret natural language search intent and generate structured boolean query logic. The specific underlying model is not publicly disclosed.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)
Human decides
  • The AI analyzes staff-provided search intent and existing boolean queries to suggest more effective search strings. Staff review and decide which suggestions to adopt; the AI does not execute searches autonomously.
Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • The integrated AI tool understands the meaning and intent behind a staff member's media monitoring topic, translating natural language concepts into structured boolean search logic that can be applied in the Meltwater platform.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • The AI outputs improved or newly constructed boolean search strings as recommendations for staff to review and apply within the Meltwater media monitoring platform. No binding decisions are made by the AI.

Run by

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
  • The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is the federal department that has deployed this AI-assisted media monitoring tool for internal staff use.

Government of Canada AI Register — Media monitoring

Built by

Meltwater
  • Meltwater is the commercial vendor that supplies the media monitoring platform and its integrated AI tool used to generate and refine boolean search queries.

Government of Canada AI Register — Media monitoring

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • The boolean search query outputs produced by the AI tool are used by FCAC staff within the Meltwater platform. Access is limited to authorized FCAC employees using the media monitoring service.
Available to vendor
  • Meltwater, as the platform provider, has access to the queries and interactions within their system. The extent of Meltwater's data access is governed by the service agreement between Meltwater and FCAC, which is not publicly disclosed in the register entry.

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 TransparencyThis system is used internally by FCAC staff and does not make decisions about members of the public. The Government of Canada's AI and Algorithmic Systems Register provides public disclosure of this system's existence and purpose. Members of the public wishing to learn more may consult the register entry or contact FCAC directly.

Risks and safeguards

No risks or safeguards have been published for this system yet.