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AI Assistant for Old Age Security Benefit Agents

Eligibility & Public Benefits · Inform

What it collects that can identify you

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Knowledge articles and policy documents accessed, search queries issued, and links followed within the Cúram system by ESDC agents using the chatbot. These interaction records are linked to employee sessions but not to benefit recipient personal data.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Also collects operational data, which is anonymized data.

Run by
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
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

This AI-powered chatbot helps Employment and Social Development Canada employees who process Old Age Security (OAS) benefits find answers to policy questions quickly using the Cúram system. It draws on program knowledge articles, policies, and training materials to generate responses in real time. The system is used only by government employees — it does not directly interact with benefit applicants or recipients. No personal information about benefit recipients is processed by this system.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Agent queries and questions typed into the chatbot about OAS benefit policies, guidelines, and eligibility criteria. These are operational questions from government employees — no personal information about benefit recipients is included.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

About behaviour
Pseudonymous data
  • Knowledge articles and policy documents accessed, search queries issued, and links followed within the Cúram system by ESDC agents using the chatbot. These interaction records are linked to employee sessions but not to benefit recipient personal data.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Processing

Language Models
  • The chatbot uses a large language model to generate responses to employee queries. It is grounded in program knowledge articles, policies and procedures, and Cúram user guides to limit hallucination and keep answers within approved program content.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Search & Retrieval
  • The system retrieves relevant links and passages from program knowledge articles, policies and procedures, and Cúram user guides in response to agent queries, providing source references alongside generated responses.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

What it does

Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • The system generates text responses to employee queries about OAS benefit policies and guidelines based on knowledge management and training materials. Employees read the generated responses and decide how to apply the information — the AI advises; the agent decides.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • The system understands the meaning of agent queries and retrieves relevant content from program knowledge articles, policies and procedures, and Cúram user guides to ground its responses.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • Real-time text responses to agent queries about OAS benefit policies, guidelines, and eligibility criteria. Outputs also include links to source knowledge articles. No personal information about benefit recipients is included in outputs.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • Links to relevant knowledge articles and suggested policy passages that agents should review. These are advisory outputs — agents use their own judgment to decide whether and how to act on the recommendations.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Run by

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
  • ESDC is the federal department that deploys and operates the AI AssistMe chatbot to support its employees processing Old Age Security benefits under the Benefits Delivery Modernization program.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Built by

Deloitte and Accenture
  • Deloitte and Accenture are the vendors that built and supply the AI AssistMe system for ESDC's Benefits Delivery Modernization program.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • Chat interaction logs and query data are available to ESDC for system monitoring, quality assurance, and improvement of the knowledge base. The register states no personal information about benefit recipients is processed.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

Not available to me
  • OAS benefit recipients and the general public do not interact with this system and cannot access any data it produces. The system is an internal employee tool only.

BDM OAS AI AssistMe — AI Register

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 only by ESDC employees, not by benefit applicants or recipients. Members of the public can learn about this system through the Government of Canada AI Register. Employees using the system are informed that they are interacting with an AI-powered chatbot.

Risks and safeguards

  • Societal & cultural harmThe chatbot may generate inaccurate or hallucinated policy guidance, which front-line agents could inadvertently apply to benefit decisions, leading to incorrect outcomes for OAS recipients.Safeguard: The system grounds responses in approved program knowledge articles, policies, and Cúram user guides. Human agents review all generated responses before acting on them; they retain decision-making authority. The register confirms the system is advisory only and does not directly make eligibility determinations.