A variety of resources have been compiled to assist staff in navigating the use of AI in the workplace. Please see the information below and see our generative AI page on Connect@MN for details. Generative AI at the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle 

What is Generative AI? 

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence that can create new or rework existing content, such as text, images, audio, or video, based on input data. 

Benefits of Generative AI 

• Time-saving: Automates tasks like drafting emails, reports, lesson plans, and proofreading. 

• Content creation: Helps brainstorm and generate creative content (text, music, images, etc.). 

• Information gathering: Quickly finds and looks at information from different places. It can help you summarise meeting notes or draft lesson plans, enabling you to capture key points and effectively communicate with school communities efficiently. 

• Trend identification: Spots patterns and guesses what might happen next. 

Pitfalls and Risks 

• Accuracy issues: May make up facts or sources. 

• Bias & ethics: Outputs may reflect biased training data. 

• Security & privacy: Avoid entering sensitive information such as personal identification numbers, financial data, health records, or confidential work-related information into AI tools to prevent accidental exposure. 

• Misuse potential: Can be weaponised (e.g., deepfakes, phishing). 

Responsible & Ethical Use 

The Diocese promotes responsible use of Generative AI by following principles such as: 

• Privacy & security: Protect sensitive data, especially student/staff info. 

• Accuracy: Fact-check and ensure reliability. 

• Transparency: Be open about AI use and its limitations. 

• Anti-bias: Actively reduce bias and promote fairness. 

• Prompt sensitivity: Understand how changes to prompts affect outputs. 

Approved Tools 

• Microsoft Copilot Chat, Canva, and Adobe Firefly are the approved Generative AI tools for staff. It can be used effectively for tasks such as summarising lengthy documents, assisting with scheduling by generating event briefs, and drafting communications like emails or newsletters while ensuring adherence to policy guidelines. Other tools, such as ChatGPT, are not approved or endorsed.