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Select Board asks staff to refine AI policy after debate over disclosure and scope
Summary
After a long discussion, the Select Board asked staff to return a revised draft AI policy that clarifies prohibited data handling, IT approvals for tools, and options for disclosure of AI assistance in public-facing documents.
The Select Board discussed a draft Artificial Intelligence policy on Monday and provided detailed feedback for staff to incorporate in a revised draft. Assistant Town Manager Johnson Staub presented the policy and emphasized that the town wants to enable staff to use AI productively while protecting sensitive data and ensuring staff remain responsible for final outputs. "AI is a tool, but you can't just blindly use it and say it's done," Johnson Staub said.
Board members debated whether the town should require disclosure when generative AI is used on public-facing materials and whether the town should address AI as a discrete policy or fold protections into a broader data-privacy policy. Some members favored an acknowledgement for documents produced with AI assistance; others worried that mandatory disclosure could undermine public trust or be impractical because AI-infused features are now ubiquitous. The board asked staff to produce a revised draft to appear on the next consent agenda that would include input from IT and consider a concise, townwide disclosure statement and a prohibition against entering designated sensitive data into unapproved tools.
The board did not adopt the policy at the meeting but directed staff to return with a revised version.
