Skip to content
This is NOT an official site of the Government of Canada. Click here for the official AI registry.

Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

Back to your search

AI-Assisted Briefing Note Drafting for Policy Analysts

Inform · Planning & Decision-making

What it collects

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • My International Snapshot — an internal Global Affairs Canada data source — provides structured operational and policy reference data used to ground briefing note content.
Generated content
Anonymized data
  • User-uploaded files (Word documents, PDFs, and emails) serve as reference material. These may contain prior written work or correspondence that the system uses when drafting briefing notes.
Run by
Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization

What it is for

InformPlanning & Decision-making

This system uses AI to generate a first draft of briefing notes for Government of Canada policy analysts at Global Affairs Canada, drawing on internal documents and reference materials uploaded by users. The draft is intended as a starting point that analysts review, validate, and expand before producing a final document. The system is currently in an experimentation phase and users are informed that AI is involved in the drafting process.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • My International Snapshot — an internal Global Affairs Canada data source — provides structured operational and policy reference data used to ground briefing note content.
Generated content
Anonymized data
  • User-uploaded files (Word documents, PDFs, and emails) serve as reference material. These may contain prior written work or correspondence that the system uses when drafting briefing notes.

Processing

Language Models
  • OpenAI LLM accessed via Azure Cognitive Services performs content synthesis and generation. A separate embedding model enables semantic document search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) over uploaded reference files.
Search & Retrieval
  • An embedding model provides advanced document search over user-uploaded files and internal data, enabling the system to surface relevant passages for inclusion in the generated draft.

What it does

Understanding (Semantic AI)
Human decides
  • An embedding model retrieves and ranks relevant passages from uploaded documents and internal data, grounding the generative step in specific reference material rather than model memory alone.
Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • A large language model (LLM) synthesizes retrieved information into a templated briefing note draft. Output is always reviewed, validated, and augmented by a human policy analyst before use as a final document.

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • The system produces a first-draft templated briefing note. The output is a structured text document intended for review by a human policy analyst, not for direct publication or decision-making.

Run by

Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
  • Global Affairs Canada is the federal department deploying and experimenting with this AI briefing note system, supported by its internal Data Science team and Strategic Planning, Policy and Operations branch.

Government of Canada AI Register — AI-generated briefing notes (2526-GAC-AMC-012)

Built by

OpenAI
  • OpenAI's cognitive services, accessed through Microsoft Azure, provide the embedding model for document search and the large language model (LLM) for content synthesis and generation used in this system.

Government of Canada AI Register — AI-generated briefing notes (2526-GAC-AMC-012)

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • Output briefing note drafts and uploaded reference files are accessible to authorized GC employees within Global Affairs Canada. No personal information about members of the public is collected or stored.

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 Be Informed of AI UseUsers of this system are informed that AI is involved in the drafting of briefing notes. The register confirms that AI use is disclosed to users.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyThe Government of Canada's AI Register entry for this system is publicly accessible, providing transparency about the system's capabilities, data sources, and status. Further details may be obtained through Access to Information requests to Global Affairs Canada.

Risks and safeguards

  • Societal & cultural harmLLM-generated text may introduce inaccuracies, hallucinations, or subtly misleading framings into policy briefings, potentially influencing government decisions if analysts over-rely on drafts.Safeguard: The system is explicitly positioned as a first-draft tool; analysts are required to review, validate, and augment all output. The system remains in an experimentation phase, limiting its deployment scope.
  • Reputational harmAI-generated briefing notes that contain factual errors or misattributions could damage the credibility of policy analysts or Global Affairs Canada if circulated without thorough review.Safeguard: Human review and validation is mandated before any draft is finalized, and the system's outputs are not intended for direct distribution.