Introducing Assist – the dynamic AI tool rapidly transforming government communications
In 2023, the Government Communication Service (GCS) published the Horizon Review into Responsible Innovation, which predicted just how extensively generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) would transform the communications landscape. While producing this Review, GCS identified ‘lack of time’ as a key challenge to innovation for GCS members, with many colleagues saying they spent large chunks of their time producing first drafts of work. These insights contributed to a commitment in the GCS Innovating with Impact Strategy to develop a groundbreaking new tool to help support GCS members; enter Assist.
Reimagining communications
Assist is a tool built by government communicators, for government communicators. Powered by generative AI, Assist is a secure and accessible bespoke conversational tool that empowers users to become even more efficient and effective in their roles through helping to brainstorm, create first drafts and review work. By using Assist, GCS members also benefit from the confidence that its outputs follow GCS policies and standards.
In addition to being able to reference specific GCS documents, responsible use has been the guiding principle of Assist’s development, informed by the GCS Framework for Ethical Innovation and GCS Generative AI Policy. Before using the tool, all GCS members must complete a bespoke ‘AI for Communicators’ training course, designed to upskill and inform them of the safe use of Assist and AI in the workplace. Assist provides users with more than 50 communications-specific ‘pre-built prompts’, which reflect the typical tasks a government communicator might need to do on a daily basis. These prompts span across all seven GCS disciplines, ensuring the tool is tailored to every government communicator use case.
Based on learnings from developing and rolling out Assist across the GCS, the Assist team is now producing a comprehensive guide to support other teams across the Civil Service to follow the novel approach GCS has taken to successfully and safely scale its AI tool across 175+ government organisations.
Assist’s impact has surpassed expectations and, after passing several key assessments, it is now accessible to more than 2,700 GCS members across 174 organisations, and counting. Saving the average user more than three hours per week, Assist provides users with the ability to spend more time on more creative and impactful tasks. Crucially, human quality control is a cornerstone of Assist’s effectiveness. Designed to enhance rather than replace government communicators’ unique skills, Assist provides suggested first drafts that GCS members develop further, applying their human critical thinking and judgement. Our continuous user research into the application of Assist has found a majority of users agree that the tool provides first draft-quality outputs all or most of the time.
“I’ve been using Assist for a variety of different situations, from messaging to strategy development and it has been an excellent experience. It far surpasses any other Gen AI tool I’ve used. I’ve developed a full annual comms strategy, tailored messages and created policies and templates, in seconds rather than hours. It has been truly a revelation. Well done to you and the team for the hard work which has clearly gone in. I’m looking forward to rolling this out to the team in the near future!” – Assist user.
The real power of Assist lies in its practical applications. The tool has been used for a range of purposes from supporting crisis communications preparedness to helping colleagues reintegrate during their return to work.
Join the innovation transformation today!
The dynamic spirit of the Civil Service’s One Big Thing initiative continues in GCS, with Assist fundamentally changing how thousands of government communicators approach their work. Innovation continues all year round in GCS and we’re encouraging all GCS members to continue their ‘One Small Change’ ideas. If you’re a GCS member looking for another opportunity to improve how you work, signing up to Assist could be the single most transformative thing you do today.
Assist is a step-change towards the future of government communications. Whether you’re a GCS member writing a press release, planning a campaign, or developing a social media strategy, Assist is here to support you in your role and enable you to focus on your most important work.
Assist is exclusively for GCS members. All you need to do to get started is complete the AI for Communicators course.
We will then write to you to confirm you have been given access, and you can begin using Assist by logging in to Connect.
Have questions about using Assist or want to share your Assist success story? Contact the Assist team at ai.gcs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.