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Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

AI Assistant for Cloud Infrastructure Management

Inform · Energy Efficiency · Safety & Security

What it collects that can identify you

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Natural language queries and task requests submitted by IT administrators, representing their interactions with Azure resources and services.

Also collects operational data, which is anonymized data.

Run by
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization, Vendor
Your copy
You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

InformEnergy EfficiencySafety & Security

This AI assistant helps IT staff at the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada manage, automate, and optimize cloud computing resources using natural language. It is used internally by government employees and is not directly visible to the public. The system is supplied by Microsoft and operates within the Azure cloud platform.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Azure cloud resource configurations, performance metrics, service logs, and operational data across FCAC's Azure environment — not directly tied to individual citizens.
About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Natural language queries and task requests submitted by IT administrators, representing their interactions with Azure resources and services.

Processing

Language Models
  • Powered by Microsoft's large language model infrastructure within Azure, enabling natural language understanding and generation for cloud management tasks.

What it does

Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • Interprets natural language queries from IT administrators to understand intent and retrieve relevant Azure resource information and recommendations.
Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • Generates natural language responses, task automation scripts, and AI-driven insights to help IT admins manage and optimize Azure cloud resources.
Deciding (Analytical AI)
Human decides
  • Analyzes Azure cloud resource metrics and usage patterns to surface AI-driven insights for performance optimization.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • AI-driven insights, optimization recommendations, and guidance on managing Azure cloud resources, presented to IT administrators for their review and action.
Generated content
Anonymized data
  • Generated natural language responses, task automation scripts, and configuration guidance produced by Copilot to assist IT administrators.

Run by

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
  • The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is the federal department that deployed Copilot in Azure to support its IT administration and cloud operations.

Government of Canada AI Register — Copilot in Azure

Built by

Microsoft
  • Microsoft is the vendor that developed and supplies Copilot in Azure, the AI system deployed by FCAC.

Government of Canada AI Register — Copilot in Azure

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • Outputs and interaction logs are available to FCAC IT administrators and management within the Azure environment.
Available to vendor
  • Microsoft, as the vendor supplying Copilot in Azure, may have access to interaction data and telemetry subject to the terms of the cloud service agreement.
Not available to me
  • This system is used exclusively by FCAC's internal IT staff and is not accessible to members of the public or regulated financial sector stakeholders.

Stored

Stored on 3rd Party Cloud
  • Data processed by Copilot in Azure is stored on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure, operated by Microsoft as the third-party cloud provider.
  • Duration: Not specified in the register
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 UseGC employees using this system are informed that they are interacting with an AI assistant (Copilot in Azure) as part of their IT administration tools. The system's existence is disclosed via the Government of Canada AI Register.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyInformation about Copilot in Azure is publicly disclosed on the Government of Canada AI Register. Users can learn about the system's general purpose and vendor through this registry.

Risks and safeguards

  • Psychological harmOver-reliance on AI-generated recommendations for cloud configuration changes could lead to operational errors or stress for IT staff.Safeguard: The system operates in an advisory capacity with human decisions required; IT administrators review all suggested actions before execution.
  • Societal & cultural harmDependence on a single vendor's proprietary AI model for critical government cloud operations could create lock-in and reduce institutional capacity.Safeguard: FCAC retains administrative control over its Azure environment; Microsoft's responsible AI commitments apply per the cloud service agreement.