The topic of artificial intelligence is inescapable in many spheres, and libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions are no exception. As organizations incorporate AI into their policies and strategic plans—and as the question “what if we used AI?” increases in frequency during our conversations with colleagues—it is becoming increasingly important for information professionals to be able to discern when and how to use AI, if at all, in our work. Additionally, amidst genuine interest in learning new technology and the frequent discussions of the boundless potential of AI, the inherent ethical considerations are often either downplayed or ignored completely.

In this program, three speakers will present their own experiences working with AI for various library projects. They will share both the benefits and challenges of incorporating such technologies into their work, as well as considerations for mitigating potential harm and biases that the use of AI may introduce or proliferate in our systems, applications, and shared information landscape.

In the University of Calgary, Digital Services case, we discuss our local context, how we're building an ethical space to use AI tools from a manager and team perspective, and illustrate this context using four examples.