Using AI at Kingborough Council

Generative AI can draft an email, summarise a long document, restructure something you have written, or help you get started on a blank page. Used well it saves real time.

Used carelessly it can put residents' information somewhere the Council cannot control. This article covers how to get the benefit without the risk.

What you can use

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the Council's approved generative AI tool. It works inside the Council's own Microsoft 365 environment, so your prompts and documents stay within systems the Council manages and are not used to train public AI models.

For the full list of what is approved and what is not, see Approved AI tools.

What not to use

Do not use public AI tools for Council work. That includes ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Grammarly, Midjourney and similar services.

The problem is not that these tools are bad. It is that anything you type into them leaves the Council's control. You cannot say where it is stored, how long it is kept, who can see it, or whether it will be used to train a model. For a council holding rates records, development applications and complaints, that is not a risk worth taking to save a few minutes.

If you need something Copilot cannot do, ask rather than working around it — see Request new software or an AI tool. There may be an approved option, or we may be able to assess one.

The risks worth understanding

• Personal information is easy to include by accident. Pasting an email thread, a complaint or an application to get it summarised usually means pasting someone's name, address and circumstances along with it.
• AI is confidently wrong. It will produce fluent, plausible text containing invented facts, wrong figures, or references to legislation that does not say what it claims. It does not signal when it is guessing.
• Copied content can carry hidden instructions. Text and images from the web can contain instructions aimed at the AI rather than at you — telling it to ignore its rules or produce something you did not ask for. This is called prompt injection. Be wary of pasting large blocks of unfamiliar web content and acting on what comes back.
• You may create personal information without meaning to. Asking AI to write an assessment of a person, or to speculate about someone's circumstances, can generate new personal information that the Council then holds and is accountable for.

How to use it well

• Check everything before it leaves your hands. You are responsible for what you send, not the tool. Verify names, dates, figures, legislation and any claim about what the Council has decided.
• Remove identifying details when you can. If you want help with wording, you rarely need the resident's name in the prompt. "Draft a response to a complaint about a barking dog" works as well as the version with an address in it.
• Use it for drafting, not deciding. It is good at getting words onto a page and poor at judgement. Statutory determinations, enforcement decisions and advice to Councillors are yours to make.
• Do not paste in anything you would not put in a help request. A useful rule of thumb, and it covers most cases.
• Ask if you are unsure. Message us. Asking first is always cheaper than fixing afterwards.