1. How does IntelliStatCan work?
IntelliStatCan is connected to a catalogue of PDF publications already available on our website, allowing data users to conduct general information searches on these PDFs.
The user will type a question, known as a prompt, into the search box and IntelliStatCan will type out a real-time response, referencing the source PDFs in the search results.
2. What is the intent of IntelliStatCan?
The intent of IntelliStatCan is to provide Statistics Canada data users with an alternative option to find information they seek within Statistics Canada publications.
3. What content does IntelliStatCan pull its answers from?
IntelliStatCan is currently limited to content from the catalogue of PDFs on a variety of subjects found on the Analysis and Reference pages of our website.
4. Why can the search tool only search content limited to PDF publications on the StatCan website?
Further research, analysis and testing are required for IntelliStatCan to be able to include additional data and products found on our website like articles, charts, tables graphs, etc.
5. When can I expect this tool to access more than just PDFs publications in its results?
Statistics Canada will be working towards updating the tool to include results from all products found on the StatCan website. We invite you to check back periodically to see how the tool has evolved.
6. How is this search tool different than a regular search tool?
Regular search tools rely on keywords to search for information on a website. IntelliStatCan uses generative artificial intelligence (G-AI), which is a type of AI that produces text based on user’s question or input, called a prompt. While there’s a variety of G-AI tools available, IntelliStatCan uses the large language model (LLM), ChatGPT. This model has been programmed to generate sentence-format answers from within Statistics Canada publications that match the prompts, while also providing references to the publications for users to consult.
7. Is my personal information and my privacy protected?
IntelliStatCan uses publicly available information already found on the Statistics Canada website, which conforms to Statistics Canada's Privacy Framework. However, we urge users to refrain from entering sensitive or personal information into the tool's search box.
8. How is IntelliStatCan governed?
IntelliStatCan adheres to the guiding principles set out in Responsible use of artificial intelligence.
To ensure transparency and adherence to these guiding principles, IntelliStatCan has disclaimers regarding the use of AI.
Please visit Statistics Canada's website to learn more about the Framework for Responsible Machine Learning Processes at Statistics Canada, as well as Artificial intelligence at Statistics Canada.
9. How can I communicate my feedback on IntelliStatCan?
We welcome all feedback! Follow the link to a short Statistics Canada Intelligent Search AI tool - feedback form on the tool's webpage. Your feedback will be used to improve the tool.
IntelliStatCan search results page explained
IntelliStatCan’s search results page has unique features that are not part of a regular search engine experience.
For example, when searching "Data on wages for immigrants in 2018?" the results page looks like the image below with unique features:
- "Share" button for users to share a link to the tool's page.
- Question text.
- Search result text.
- A reference number identified within the text.
- The total number of references within the text.
- List of references.
- Broom icon to clear all queries.
- Disclaimer: "AI-generated content may be incorrect."
