Without a paddle: AI for engagement professionals who want to stay in control
- Rachel
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
I went paddleboarding recently when the sunshine came out. I took my eye off the ball for two minutes to take some pictures, and the strong wind nearly had me in the reeds. It struck me that paddleboarding is a good metaphor for where a lot of engagement professionals are right now with AI.
Getting on the board is the easy part. Everyone can do that. But without a paddle you are not really in control - you are just being pushed around by the wind, drifting sideways, watching everyone else glide past with purpose. You are still on the board, but you are going nowhere fast and you aren’t making the decisions.
That is exactly where a lot of public sector engagement professionals find themselves with AI right now. Without the skills, the knowledge and the confidence to use AI intentionally, the wind is in charge.
The reality check - AI is already shaping how people engage
The scale of AI adoption in the UK is striking. According to IAB UK data, ChatGPT alone reaches over 16 million monthly users in the UK. It’s now a mainstream tool that a significant proportion of the people are using in their daily lives.
The Alan Turing Institute's 2025 research on public attitudes to AI tells us something important about what those people expect. 72% of people say that regulation increases their trust in AI. The public are not asking for AI to go away, rather, assurance that it’s being used responsible and with human oversight.
As we know, the expectations on public sector organisations as trusted institutions are high.
For engagement professionals this is reassuring as it confirms the values at the heart of good engagement work – transparency, human connection, accountability, and trust. It’s also challenging because it raises an uncomfortable question of whether you know what standard your local community is holding you too, and are you meeting that?
Without your paddle, you won’t be able to steer towards the answer yes.
The opportunity for analysis
Analysing large amounts of data is a challenge for most public sector engagement teams. It’s an area lots of organisations spend money on – and naturally an area people need AI to help.
AI absolutely can support with analysis, with good prompts and human oversight. Make sure you and your team know how to do analysis well manually and there will be opportunities to use AI to support the process.
The UK Government's Incubator for AI has developed a tool called Consult specifically to address this challenge. In October 2025 it was used to analyse over 50,000 responses to the Independent Water Commission review in just two hours. Experts then needed only 22 hours to verify the results.
This is a significant shift in what’s possible.
Consult is designed around human oversight – something we cannot emphasise enough. Your AI should make no decisions and cannot replace human judgement.
We’ve had success analysing data in our tenant protected co-pilot too.
AI can help you paddle faster, but it cannot tell you where you should be going.
The bit that should make you uncomfortable
Here is something that does not get talked about enough in conversations about AI and engagement work.
AI will tell you what you want to hear. I like to think of it as a puppy – always wanting to please.
The AI tools most of us use are trained to be helpful and agreeable. It’s a fundamental characteristic of how they work.
AI does not understand you, your organisation, the reason you are doing the work, the relationships you have and the way you need to maintain your trust. It means you must think carefully about the way you prompt AI.
A paddle will take you where you choose to go. But if you do not know how to use it properly you could end up going in the wrong direction or round in circles. Bad AI technique can be just as bad as having no paddle at all!
Free up the desk - get out from behind it
AI should not be used to replace the human work of engagement. It should be used to protect it.
When we think about some of the tasks engagement professionals need to do, like drafting communications, writing reports, summarising notes, analysis – these are all really important parts of the puzzle that lead to the ‘thing’ that influences change.
The work that is inherently human, showing up, visiting groups, having conversations, listening to people – are things that AI cannot replace.
Use AI to take some of the load off so you have more time and energy to do the human stuff.
Back to our paddleboarding metaphor. The paddle is not the point, the destination is. For engagement professionals, the destination is always the community. AI helps get you there with more energy.
AI and the art of continuous listening
The organisations that build genuine trust with their communities are the ones always listening, not just when there is a big consultation to run. Continuous listening is the heart of what we do at Open Voice Lab.
AI can genuinely support you to monitor sentiment across multiple channels, spot emerging themes and process feedback from different sources. Used well, it can help turn the background noise of community life into something you can do something with.
But – as with all of this - AI cannot do the understanding for you, this remains the human skill.
You should always check the forecast before you get out on the water. Think of AI as your weather check - helping you see what is coming so you know how hard you are going to need to paddle.
The question worth asking
The communities you serve are already living in a world shaped by AI. They are using it to research issues and draft responses. I am sure people have already used AI to engage with your organisation.
The question is not whether AI has a role in engagement work. It clearly does and it’s only growing.
The question is whether you have a paddle.
Are you in control of how AI is being used in your engagement practice? Are you making the most of the opportunities? Do you understand the risks and how to navigate them?
Is your organisation using AI carefully enough and transparently enough with human insight to maintain the trust of the people you serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AI and why does it matter for engagement professionals?
AI is already shaping how communities access information and how people take part in engagement work. Understanding what it is, how it behaves and where it carries risk is essential for anyone working in public sector engagement – whether you feel ready for it or not.
Is AI safe to use in public sector engagement work?
Yes, if you use the right tool and work within data protection rules and regulations. The distinction between different tools, what you input and the need for human oversight are all critical things to consider.
What is the difference between different AI tools and does it matter which one I use?
Not all AI tools are the same and the differences matter more than most people realise. From data protection implications to what happens to the information you input, choosing the right tool for the right task is one of the most important things engagement professionals need to get to grips with right now.
Will AI replace engagement and consultation professionals?
Absolutely not. Understanding exactly why not is just as important as understanding what AI can do. The human skills at the heart of good engagement work are irreplaceable. AI changes how you do some of the work but it does not change why it matters.
How do I start using AI confidently and responsibly in my engagement practice?
Build your knowledge and understanding of the opportunities and risks - so you can make informed decisions about when to use it, how to use it and what to watch out for. That is exactly what our training is designed to help you do.
Grab your paddle and board
At Open Voice Lab we have developed AI for engagement work: your essential human guide, designed specifically for people working in engagement and communications. It covers the fundamentals of AI so you can understand the systems and terminology before going through how to prompt, the opportunities to use in practice and the importance governance and risk elements.
If our blog has sparked questions you want to explore further, we would love to have you in the room.
Our training can be done in-house and made bespoke for teams facing particular challenges. We also offer support with using AI for analysis.
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