AI Advisory Committee | Operational Governance | Process for requests and access to AI tools
AI adoption at McGill is guided through both advisory and operational governance to support responsible, ethical, and secure use of AI technologies across the University.
AI governance is part of McGill's broader technology governance framework. For information on University-wide technology governance, decision-making processes, policies etc. please visit the IT Governance page.
AI Advisory Governance
AI Advisory Committee
The AI Advisory Committee supports and advises the University's senior leadership on the strategic, ethical, and responsible adoption of AI at McGill. The committee helps ensure alignment with institutional priorities, government requirements, and best practices while fostering innovation across all areas of the University.
Key responsibilities include:
- Advising on responsible and ethical AI adoption
- Supporting alignment with Ministère de la Cybersécurité et du Numérique (MCN) and The Ministère de l'Éducation et de l’Enseignement Supérieur (MEES) requirements
- Promoting equitable and transparent use across teaching, research, and administration
- Helping position McGill as an institutional and industry leader in AI
Committee Membership
The AI Advisory Committee includes representatives from academic, administrative, and technical units across the University.
| Role | Representatives |
|---|---|
| Chair | Enterprise Applications Director |
| Members |
|
| Advisors |
|
Operational Governance
AI Review Committee
The AI Review Committee oversees the operational review of all AI tools and AI-enabled services before deployment. The committee helps ensure AI tools meet McGill’s governance, compliance, and risk management requirements.
The review process may include:
- Assessing security, privacy, and data handling and contractual risks
- Reviewing all AI tool and platform requests
- Evaluating AI models, data usage, and retention practices
- Ensuring alignment with McGill policies and government directives
- Coordinating with existing cloud and technology review processes
The process applies to new AI tools, AI features added to existing platforms, and requests involving on-premises AI infrastructure or sensitive data.
Process for requests and access to AI tools
AI tools and AI-enabled services are reviewed before institutional use to help ensure privacy, security, legal, operational, and responsible AI requirements are met.
Behind the scenes, the AI Review Committee works with McGill’s privacy, security, procurement, legal, and technology teams to assess risks, data handling, vendor practices, and policy alignment based on the intended use of the tool.
To submit a request for an AI tool or AI-enabled feature, you must complete the General Request Form located on the IT Support site and provide the following information:
- The name of the AI tool or feature
- A description of how it will be used
- What kind of data will be entered (i.e., public, protected, or regulated data). For examples, see section 2.3 in the Guidelines for Enterprise Data Classification Levels.
When a review is required
A request should be submitted when you want to:
- Use a new AI tool for institutional work
- Enable AI features in an existing platform
- Use AI with confidential or sensitive data
What is reviewed
Reviews may consider:
- Proposed use cases and its institutional purpose
- Privacy, security, and data classification risks
- Vendor reliability, contractual terms, and procurement implications
- Whether data may be retained or used to train AI models
How the process works
- Submit a request: Provide basic information on the name of the AI tool or feature, how it will be used, and the type of data that will be entered.
- Intake and triage: The request is routed to the appropriate teams for privacy, security, procurement, legal, cloud, and AI governance as needed.
- Review: The request is assessed based on the type of tool, intended use and associated risks.
- Decision: Requests may be approved, approved with conditions, deferred pending more information, or not approved. Approved tools may require training or periodic assessment to ensure continued compliance and responsible use.
Important conditions of use
- Protected and regulated information must not be entered into public AI systems unless authorized.
- Users are responsible for validating AI-generated outputs.
- Training may be required before access of use.
- Approved tools may be periodically reassessed and monitored.
