Tool

Readiness check.

Twelve questions in four groups. Answer them with your clerk, and the results tell you where your office stands and which three steps to take first. Nothing you choose leaves this page.

Use
Do you know which staff use AI tools for work?
Do any staff use personal accounts for AI tools at work?
Has an AI feature arrived in software you already pay for?
Has a vendor pitched an AI product to you in the last year?
Records
Has your records custodian decided whether AI prompts and outputs are records?
Could you produce an employee’s AI chat if someone requested it?
Data
Is there a written rule on what staff may paste into an AI tool?
Do staff know which records hold information Daniel’s Law protects?
People
Does a named person approve anything an AI tool drafts before it goes out?
Have staff taken any AI training?
Is AI on a governing body agenda this year?
Do you have a written AI policy?

What each answer calls for

  1. Do you know which staff use AI tools for work?

    No or Not sure: Start an AI use register, with one row per tool showing who uses it and what it can see. AI use register.

  2. Do any staff use personal accounts for AI tools at work?

    Yes or Not sure: Move the work out of personal accounts, and say so in writing. Staff guidelines.

  3. Has an AI feature arrived in software you already pay for?

    Yes or Not sure: Ask your vendors which AI features are on, and what data they can reach. Vendor question sheet.

  4. Has a vendor pitched an AI product to you in the last year?

    Yes or Not sure: Get the vendor’s answers in writing before the demo. Five questions before a demo.

  5. Has your records custodian decided whether AI prompts and outputs are records?

    No or Not sure: Decide which prompts, outputs and drafts are records, who keeps them and for how long. Records decision sheet.

  6. Could you produce an employee’s AI chat if someone requested it?

    No or Not sure: Find out where chats are kept, and how to export one. Is an AI chat an OPRA record?

  7. Is there a written rule on what staff may paste into an AI tool?

    No or Not sure: Give staff one page on what may and may not go into a tool. Staff guidelines.

  8. Do staff know which records hold information Daniel’s Law protects?

    No or Not sure: Show staff where protected addresses turn up in your records. AI redaction and Daniel’s Law.

  9. Does a named person approve anything an AI tool drafts before it goes out?

    No or Not sure: Name who signs off on each kind of output, before anything goes out. AI use register.

  10. Have staff taken any AI training?

    No or Not sure: Enroll staff in the free New Jersey courses. Free training.

  11. Is AI on a governing body agenda this year?

    No or Not sure: Brief your governing body before it is asked to approve a tool. What’s new in AI, and what it means for a town hall.

  12. Do you have a written AI policy?

    No or Not sure: Draft a policy your governing body can adopt and your staff can follow. Sources for New Jersey.