Information Technology Services (ITS)
ITS shapes U of T AI recommendations
Published on: July 17, 2025
On June 17, 2025, the University of Toronto’s AI task force released a report outlining recommendations for how the institution is thoughtfully and responsibly approaching emerging technologies. Balancing both the opportunities and risks posed by artificial intelligence in the higher education landscape, the report proposes strategies to help the university become “AI-ready” through a human-centric approach.
Chaired by Susan McCahan (associate vice-president and vice-provost, digital strategies and vice-provost, innovations in undergraduate education), the task force brought together a diverse group of contributors from across U of T’s three campuses. Members shared their specialized insights across areas of the university including teaching and learning, research, student services, operations, administration and institutional technology. As a result of the broad expertise, eight additional reports were developed, each focusing on these named topics in relation to creating an AI-ready institution.
Guided by the principle of digital trust, the report identifies key components of AI-readiness at U of T as:
- Access to appropriate hardware and software, including access to AI Tools
- Effective security infrastructure
- Appropriate governance framework and architecture
- High-quality institutional data
- Relevant policies addressing AI use
“Digital trust is the foundation for how we approach AI at U of T. In addition to securing our systems, it’s about earning and maintaining the confidence of our community,” explains Kidwell. “As we continue to explore the potential of AI in our institution, we must ensure that our practices around privacy, transparency and responsible use are embedded in our discussions.”
In one example of the committee’s effort to map AI-related activity across the IT@UofT community, Laurie Harrison worked with John DiMarco, director, Information Technology, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science, to survey IT professionals at the university to gather information on institutional use cases. The resulting summary informed the report’s recommendations and also led to the creation of the GenAI IT Professionals Interest Group — a new forum for ongoing dialogue and collaboration.
This type of groundwork helped shape the report’s recommendations, which focus on building the technological and organizational capacity needed to support AI across the institution. The report outlines recommendations in four key areas and objectives:
- AI decision-making: ensure effective and efficient decisions concerning AI use
- AI-ready talent: ensure the U of T community has the skills and resources to safely and effectively deploy AI
- AI-ready technology and IT governance: ensure IT infrastructure can effectively and securely support AI use and experimentation
- AI-ready data and data governance: ensure data are appropriately governed, and of sufficient quality, for safe and effective AI use
“These forward-looking recommendations are very important, as they lay out a strategic foundation for transforming U of T into an AI-ready institution,” remarks Signarowski. “Additionally, they align the university’s infrastructure, talent and data practices with its broader mission — empowering innovation across teaching, research, administration and operations while protecting privacy, enhancing security, fostering transparency and building community confidence in the age of AI”.
The Technology, Data Governance & Digital Trust report presents a shared vision for aligning efforts to the university’s overarching mission. It offers guiding principles to support decision-making in this rapidly changing landscape and serves as a high-level roadmap for our path forward across all divisions and campuses. With this guidance we can expand or augment our activity with confidence.