GCS Assist

This information was sourced from "GCS Assist" by AI.GOV.UK, https://ai.gov.uk/knowledge-hub/tools/gcs-assist/?directTo=library. Licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0.

The challenge

The Government Communications profession, which supports 6,500 communicators, identified lack of time as a key barrier to innovation in the 2023 Horizon Review into Responsible Innovation. Research highlighted the need for support with brainstorming, drafting, and reviewing content. Improving efficiency in these tasks would free up time for collaboration and higher-impact work.

The solution

Assist is a secure tool created in-house to support government communicators. It went live in April 2025, following the initial prototype launch in November 2023. The tool features pre-built, task-specific prompts to save users time. It enables communicators to brainstorm ideas, produce first draft communication products and review work in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take manually. Assist's focus on communication disciplines ensures that outputs align with Government Communications' best practice, guidance and frameworks. The tool has been built with a strong emphasis on responsible innovation and people-centred principles, in line with the GCS Framework for Ethical Innovation and the GCS Generative AI Policy.

The results

Since its launch, Assist has unlocked greater productivity. It has saved thousands of hours of communicators' time, whilst enabling better integration of communications best practice by embedding core Government Communications frameworks, policies and documents into the tool's responses. As of May 2025, the tool has delivered the following impact:

• Adoption: Assist has over 4500 users across more than 210 government organisations, reflecting over 70% of all potential users. Both users and usage of the tool are growing weekly, with over 30% of users logging in each week.
• Efficiency: The average user saves around 3 hours per week using Assist, contributing to projected annual efficiency savings of £5.5 million.
• Perceived Utility and Satisfaction: 98% of surveyed users find Assist useful in their role, with a strong Net Promoter Score of 62.
• Upskilling: Over 70% of all potential users have completed the bespoke 'AI for Communicators' training course, which is mandatory to gain access to the tool. Users report a 23% improvement in confidence using AI at work (when comparing measures pre- and post- Assist access and training).
• Quality: 88% of users report applying Assist's outputs in their work, noting that it reliably delivers 'first draft quality' that they can build on.

Learnings / insights

• The approach to developing and scaling Assist was grounded in the understanding that building a great tool alone is not enough. Effective rollout requires tailored support and sustained strategic engagement to create the right conditions for responsible and efficient use.
• Assist was developed through a multidisciplinary effort spanning digital, data, behavioural science, evaluation and strategic communications. This enabled a broader implementation strategy that positioned users to adopt, sustain and optimise their use of the tool. The approach has also led to the development of two publications to support the safe and effective scaling of AI tools in organisations: The People Factor, outlining a human-centred Adopt–Sustain–Optimise framework; and The Mitigating Hidden AI Risks Toolkit, a practical guide to identifying, tracking and mitigating the consequences of AI adoption.