Use of generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) by employees
Dear St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council,
I am writing to make an open government request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would like answers to the question below:
1.) Are your employees allowed to use generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, Jasper, etc.) in the workplace for work purposes?
2.) Do you have a usage policy in place on the use of generative AI in the workplace? (NOTE: If employees are not allowed to use generative AI as per Q1, please answer “yes”).
3.) If yes to the above question, can you please share your usage policy with us?
4.) Have you had incidents of the following since Jan 1st 2022? If possible please also share the number of incidents.
a.) Employees using generative AI outside the bounds of the workplace usage policy (if one exists)?
b.) Employees sharing confidential information (e.g. private personal data of employees or residents; confidential financial information) on generative AI platforms
5.) Has your organisation taken disciplinary action against employees for their use of generative AI – e.g. for using it outside the bounds of the workplace usage policy? If possible, please also share the number of incidents.
6.) Assuming your employees can use generative AI platforms at work – can they use publicly available open source tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and Jasper?
7.) Do you have a specific technology budget allocated to implementing generative AI tools in the workplace, and/or educating employees on their use? If so, and if possible, can you share the budget between Jan 1 2022 and Dec 31st 2024 (or nearest equivalent)?
If it’s easier, I am more than happy to receive this data in an Excel spreadsheet or whichever format best suits you.
If answering the above questions is not possible, could you please advise as to what relevant information would be attainable, or where the information might already exist in the public domain?
If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could advise me as to what relevant information is attainable and what steps I need to take to receive it?
I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.
Yours faithfully,
Sarah Harris
Form Submission
Hello Sarah Harris,
Thank you for contacting St.Helens Borough Council.
We have now received your Freedom of Information Request and it has been
assigned to one of our staff to review and reply to you.
Your reference number for this enquiry is 0384-7533-2163-0806
Please quote this reference in any future correspondence with us
concerning this matter.
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St Helens Borough Council
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Form Submission
Dear Sarah Harris,
1.) Are your employees allowed to use generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard,
Claude, Jasper, etc.) in the workplace for work purposes?
- At present GAI is not being used, we require any new software to be
authorised for use by our Digital Governance team and/or our Assessment
Programme Board
.2.) Do you have a usage policy in place on the use of generative AI in
the workplace? (NOTE: If employees are not allowed to use generative AI as
per Q1, please answer “yes”).
- GAI is covered generally by our GDPR policies and procedures, however we
are reviewing those to see if there is a specific need to include
references to GAI
3.) If yes to the above question, can you please share your usage policy
with us?
Yes
4.) Have you had incidents of the following since Jan 1st 2022? If
possible please also share the number of incidents. a.) Employees using
generative AI outside the bounds of the workplace usage policy (if one
exists)?
- No
b.) Employees sharing confidential information (e.g. private personal data
of employees or residents; confidential financial information) on
generative AI platforms
- No
5.) Has your organisation taken disciplinary action against employees for
their use of generative AI – e.g. for using it outside the bounds of the
workplace usage policy? If possible, please also share the number of
incidents
- N/A
6.) Assuming your employees can use generative AI platforms at work – can
they use publicly available open source tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Claude,
and Jasper?
- See answer to Q1 7
.) Do you have a specific technology budget allocated to implementing
generative AI tools in the workplace, and/or educating employees on their
use? If so, and if possible, can you share the budget between Jan 1 2022
and Dec 31st 2024 (or nearest equivalent)?
- There isn't a specific budget - any use of this type of technology would
need to be identified first when a request for funding to support it would
be made.
Form Submission
Hello Sarah Harris,
Thank you for submitting your report to us and we can now advise that your
case has now been closed with the following outcome: All data disclosed
Where applicable we have included a short update with this email so that
you can see a summary of the action that has been taken so far to address
the issue you have reported.
Action taken: Responses to questions sent.
You can still review the case details using the link below.
Reference: 0384-7533-2163-0806
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Many thanks
St Helens Borough Council
References
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