AI Advisory Group guiding principles
In 2024, Concordia established the AI Advisory Group, bringing together members of the academic and administrative communities to provide diverse perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities presented by AI. In 2025, the Group recommended a balanced, thoughtful approach to AI engagement at Concordia and developed the guiding principles set out below.
These principles, shared below, are the foundation for the Artificial Intelligence Engagement Framework, in which a steering committee and working groups will draw on them to shape their recommendations.
Intentional and measured adoption
The AI Advisory Group recognizes the urgency around AI readiness but insists on resisting the pressures of market and sectoral hype. While AI is rapidly evolving, Concordia must remain intentional in its adoption of new AI tools. Similar care must be applied when evaluating new features that vendors integrate into existing solutions. Large cloud providers often hold significant asymmetrical power in these markets, which further necessitates a thoughtful, deliberate approach to avoid dependency and ensure alignment with the university’s mission and values. Moreover, the substantial energy consumption and environmental impact of AI systems make it imperative that adoption decisions carefully consider sustainability, ensuring that technological advancements remain aligned with Concordia’s environmental values.
Leveraging existing roles, policies and structures
Rather than creating new roles, policies or parallel governance structures, recommendations must build on Concordia’s existing expertise, resources and processes. This approach minimizes unnecessary administrative overhead and financial strain while ensuring that the university can focus on preparing for AI integration without disrupting its current systems. Where new roles and structures are deemed necessary because of an identified gap, they must be created with an emphasis on resourcefulness and sustainability to match the rapid evolution of AI technologies.
Encouraging safe experimentation through skill development
To foster an environment of safe experimentation, the Advisory Group recognizes the importance of developing AI skills and literacy across the Concordia community. Gaining familiarity with AI tools through hands-on use is crucial, but it must be done with a critical understanding of their limitations and risks. Encouraging ongoing learning in this evolving space is core to safe experimentation and will help the university navigate AI adoption while promoting a culture of informed exploration and responsible use.
Maintaining data security
AI adoption inevitably involves handling large volumes of data, so integrating strong data governance (including privacy) and security considerations into the recommendations is crucial. Furthermore, recent legal and regulatory changes, such as Quebec’s Law 25 on the protection of personal information, mandate our compliance. As such, we must acknowledge their importance wherever possible and ensure that they can be effectively integrated at key moments.
Ethical considerations and inclusivity
Recommendations should ensure that AI is used in ways that promote fairness, reduce bias and foster inclusivity and accessibility. This includes commitments to ethical and sustainable AI use, addressing potential inequalities that AI might exacerbate, and ensuring that all members of the university community (students, faculty and staff) are able to participate meaningfully.