Artificial Intelligence Guidance
Interim Guidance: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Practice
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a part of our day-to-day lives. Engineers and engineers-in-training (registrants) that use AI tools in their practice must continue to meet their ethical and professional obligations under the Engineering Profession Act and Bylaws, and the Code of Ethics. For the purposes of this guidance, AI tools include generative AI systems, machine-learning applications, AI-assisted software features, and other tools that produce recommendations, content, analyses, calculations, or design outputs.
The competence, validation, documentation and professional oversight required should be proportionate to the role of AI in the work, the reliance placed on its outputs, and the consequences of error. If a registrant does not have the training or experience to competently understand the risks and limitations of AI tools, and the validity of AI results, then they should not use AI tools in their practice. AI tools may assist engineering work but cannot replace a registrant's professional judgment, accountability, or duty to protect the public.
Engineering work done under the direct supervision and control of another engineer may require a supervisor to explicitly assess the supervisee’s understanding rather than simply inferring competence from the quality of a finished work product.
Canon 4 of the Code of Ethics requires engineers to keep themselves informed in order to maintain their competence. Registrants have a responsibility to maintain knowledge about or gain competence in the use of emerging technologies within their area(s) of practice. Registrants should disclose AI use to clients where AI materially contributes to analysis, calculations, recommendations, design decisions, or other substantive elements of a deliverable.
With the rapid advancement of technologies, registrants should identify the implications and limitations of these technologies in the practice of engineering and understand their related professional and ethical obligations. They must demonstrate due diligence in understanding the effects of emerging technologies and related outcomes in their area(s) of practice, including long-term impacts, and they must take professional responsibility to protect the public accordingly.
Registrants should also recognize existing regulations, technical specifications, standards, and guidelines for these technologies. Since advancements in technology tend to outpace the creation of these documents, it falls upon registrants to support the development of documentation that will help ensure the public interest is protected.
Using AI tools and results
Registrants must demonstrate due diligence in confirming that AI results they rely on are accurate and appropriate for the intended use. Verification must be sufficient to support that reliance and reflect the tool’s characteristics, limitations and risks. AI use does not change existing stamping requirements. Work products must be stamped where otherwise required under Engineers Nova Scotia’s Guideline for Use of the Professional Stamp. The extent of verification should reflect the potential consequences of error, with higher-risk applications requiring more rigorous review and validation.
Registrants should not enter confidential, proprietary, or client-identifiable information into AI tools unless they are authorized to do so and have confirmed that the tool provides appropriate privacy, security, and data-use protections. Before using AI tools, registrants should consider whether any confidential, proprietary, or client data may be disclosed, stored, reused, or accessed by third parties. The use of AI does not reduce a registrant’s obligation to safeguard client data and maintain confidentiality in accordance with professional and ethical duties. Particular caution should be exercised when using publicly available AI tools whose data-handling practices are not fully understood.
All registrants remain professionally responsible for their work, including when it is generated by AI or includes results from an AI tool. The use of AI does not alter Engineers Nova Scotia's authority to investigate concerns regarding competence, professional conduct, or public safety. Complaints involving the development or use of AI by registrants will be addressed through the same regulatory processes as other complaints.
AI Guideline
An AI Task Force has been assembled to support the development of a guideline on the use of AI in the practice of engineering. Task Force members have professional backgrounds that aligns with the expertise required for this work, including experience in AI-enabled engineering practice, risk management, and digital systems.
This Task Force will play a key advisory role in evaluating existing guidance developed with other engineering regulators, as well as gaps in available guidance, related to the use of AI, in the creation of a final “Professional Practice Guideline on AI use in Engineering Practice” for Council for review and approval. Specific areas of scope of the Task Force include:
- Addressing the use of AI in the practice of engineering by Engineers Nova Scotia registrants, in practice areas where AI may inform, support, or be embedded in engineering work.
- Clarification that AI is to be treated as a tool whose outputs must be understood, checked, and validated by a licensed engineer, as with outputs from other advanced software, models, or calculations. The method and extent of verification must reflect the tool’s characteristics, intended use, reliance on its outputs, and consequences of error.
- Linking AI use to established professional concepts such as professional accountability and duty of care, reliance on the work of others, supervision and review, authentication of professional work products, and adherence to the Code of Ethics.
The work of the Task Force is well underway, with the goal of having a final draft document available for Council review and approval in late 2026.
Any questions related to the use of AI in engineering practice can be sent to: practice@engineersnovascotia.ca.
This Guidance was adapted with permission from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, the provincial engineering and geoscience regulator in Alberta. While adapted from Alberta materials, this Guidance has been reviewed and modified to reflect the legal and regulatory requirements specific to Nova Scotia, including compliance with the Engineering Profession Act. R.S., c. 148, s. 1.
Existing external AI guidance:
Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia - Use of Artificial Intelligence in Professional Work