AI Assistant for Standard Operating Procedures Search

Inform

What it collects

Operational data

Anonymized data

Standard Operating Procedures documents maintained by CATSA. These are internal administrative and operational documents that do not contain personal information about individuals.

About behaviour

Anonymized data

Natural language search queries entered by CATSA employees when using the assistant. The register states no personal information is involved, so queries are treated as de-identified operational inputs.

Run by: Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA)
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

Inform

This AI assistant helps Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) employees search through Standard Operating Procedures documents using natural language queries. It uses large language model technology (similar to GPT) combined with retrieval-augmented generation to surface relevant procedures. The system is currently in development and is intended for internal government employees only, not the travelling public. Users are informed when they are interacting with an AI system.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data

Anonymized data

Standard Operating Procedures documents maintained by CATSA. These are internal administrative and operational documents that do not contain personal information about individuals.

About behaviour

Anonymized data

Natural language search queries entered by CATSA employees when using the assistant. The register states no personal information is involved, so queries are treated as de-identified operational inputs.

Processing

Search & Retrieval

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is used to find and surface the most relevant sections of Standard Operating Procedures documents in response to natural language queries from employees.

Language Models

A GPT-based large language model is used to interpret employee queries and generate natural language responses grounded in retrieved Standard Operating Procedures content.

What it does

Understanding (Semantic AI)

Human decides

The assistant understands natural language queries and retrieves relevant sections from Standard Operating Procedures documents. A human employee decides which retrieved procedures to act on.

Creating (Generative AI)

Human decides

GPT-based language model technology is used to synthesize and present responses grounded in retrieved procedure documents. Employees review and decide on the information presented.

Outputs

Generated content

Anonymized data

AI-generated summaries and responses that surface relevant Standard Operating Procedures content in answer to employee queries. No personal information is produced in the output.

A recommendation or prediction

Anonymized data

The system recommends relevant Standard Operating Procedures sections ranked by relevance to the employee's query. Employees decide which procedures apply to their operational situation.

Run by

Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA)

CATSA is the federal agency responsible for air transport security in Canada. It is exploring the development of this AI assistant for internal use by its employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — Standard Operating Procedures Assistant

Built by

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization

The system and its outputs are available only to CATSA (GC) employees. It is an internal tool and is not accessible to the general public or external parties.

Not available to me

This system is for internal CATSA employee use only. Members of the travelling public or general citizens cannot access or interact with the assistant.

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 UseCATSA discloses to users that they are interacting with an AI system. The register confirms that AI use is disclosed to users of this assistant.
Right to Algorithmic TransparencyCATSA has published information about this AI system in the Government of Canada's AI Register, making the general logic and purpose of the system transparent to the public. Employees can understand that results are AI-generated from internal SOP documents.

Risks and safeguards

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