Artificial Intelligence Policy
AI technologies are rapidly advancing and have the potential to support the Council by enhancing efficiency, improving operations and assisting with decision-making for some of its key services. Although the adoption of AI presents significant opportunities to enhance efficiencies in the Council, there are risks that must be carefully considered prior to adopting AI within Council operations, which will be outlined in this policy.
The purpose of this policy document is to establish guiding principles for West Lothian Council that must be considered when using AI technologies, including, but not limited to machine learning models, natural language processing systems and Generative Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models (GenAI) such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.
GenAI is one of the most prevalent AI technologies utilised across industries and applications, allowing users to input prompts to produce various types of content such as text, images, audio, video, software code and other media. The GenAI models can learn and evolve as it trains on data structure and patterns to produce new data, which is based on the input from the user.
This policy is designed to ensure that the use of AI is ethical, complies with all applicable laws, regulations and Council policies, and complements the Council's existing Information Governance and Information Security policies including the Council's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This policy is supplementary to existing policies and should be read in conjunction with them.
AI is a group of complementary technologies, which are evolving constantly. For that reasons this policy does not focus on any individual trends or innovations. The pace of development and application of AI is such that this policy will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure continued relevance.
Review the full Artificial Intelligence Policy (PDF, 282 KB)(opens new window)
