Artificial Intelligence

Intellectual integrity is core to UM. Faculty, students and staff are expected to uphold the highest academic standards and trust. Such standards must also be maintained in the context of the use of AI. Ultimately, intellectual integrity fosters a culture of honesty, fairness and respect for knowledge.

Human relationships are essential in the context of higher education; therefore, a humancentred approach to the use of AI at UM is also critical. AI should augment human capabilities, not replace them. AI should provide opportunities to foster collaboration and innovation. Human characteristics of ethical considerations, trust and transparency are crucial for effective and responsible use of AI. Ultimately, it is humans that guide the use of AI towards meaningful and beneficial outcomes.

Faculty, students and staff at UM are responsible for their behaviour related to AI. This behaviour should include prioritizing ethical use, integrity, and transparency in the development, refinement and use of AI. It is crucial to maintain human oversight of AI systems to optimize beneficial outcomes and prevent misuse.

The core mission of UM is education and, as such, UM has the responsibility to foster the development of AI literacy within its community. In this way, users and those impacted by AI, have the necessary skills to make informed choices about the responsible use of AI and the impact of AI in their academic journey, careers and lives.

UM must ensure that appropriate risk assessments and operational controls are implemented so that our UM data (including that of students, faculty and staff) is not compromised, that privacy is maintained for our user community, and that intellectual property is protected.

UM supports and defends the principles and legislation related to the protection of intellectual property of its faculty, students and staff. Use of copyrighted materials with AI systems must be done in accordance with the Copyright Act or by permission of the rights holders. UM commits to monitoring the evolving standards related to protection of intellectual property as it relates to the use of AI and informing UM faculty, students and staff about changing requirements.

UM seeks to be a leader in campus sustainability and demonstrates its leadership through integration of sustainability principles into its strategic plans and operations. The infrastructure that supports AI systems can be electricity and water intensive. UM will seek to preferentially select enterprise AI systems from providers that not only minimize energy requirements but also prioritize sustainability practices.

UM commits to ensuring that, where AI is required for teaching and learning, there are no barriers for student access to systems resulting from disability, socio-economic disadvantage, or other factors related to systematically disadvantaged and marginalized groups. In addition, UM will continue to assess any enterprise AI systems to ensure that such AI software does not unfairly discriminate against individual or groups. UM also commits to Indigenous data sovereignty and the prevention of biasing and misrepresentation of Indigenous knowledge and colonial extractivism in the use or development of AI.

UM recognizes there are internal and external risks associated with the use of AI and seeks to eliminate or optimally reduce harms. These risks include but are not limited to exposure of personal or institution data to third parties, copyright infringement, and loss of reputation resulting from processes or decisions that rely on AI. UM will continue to review enterprise AI systems within the context of data governance and UM governing documents to minimize risk to faculty, students and staff.