Privacy

From May 2025, Harborough District Council will begin using Talkdesk Copilot (Copilot) to enhance staff productivity and efficiency. Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI) driven assistive technology, designed to improve and speed up the customer experience.

How we will use Copilot

There may be circumstances where we will inform you of its use before processing of your personal data begins.  However, CoPilot will be used solely to make contemporaneous notes of the any incoming telephone calls, and at this stage, no further business processes. Our goal is to provide clarity and maintain trust in any AI driven processes. This notice will be updated if anything changes.

It is important to note that Copilot will not be used to make decisions about service users or residents. Instead, Copilot is being used to assist our staff with tasks such as:

• Contemporaneous Note Taking: Copilot assists with the transcription of telephone conversations to our Customer Contact Centre, producing summaries and actions.
• System Outputs: Copilot will identify key words within conversations and establish ‘knowledge cards’ regarding the different issues raised by customers. This will be used to help staff handle the enquiry and promote service improvements.

How we will use data

The council's data, used with Copilot, is stored within a secure cloud environment, which is held within the UK. The data is under the control of the council and is not used to train or improve any AI models.

Copilot data processing will take place under the lawful basis defined within our privacy notices. (Specific Privacy Notice to follow).

Where Copilot is used to assist the council with transcription services, the outputs will be used for the purposes of informing service delivery and deleted when no longer required, in line with our retention schedule.

General

We recognise that the potential uses of Copilot and other AI type systems may evolve over time. Any new applications will be carefully considered and align with our commitment to data privacy and security. To ensure responsible usage, we will consider the establishment of an AI Assistive Technology Working Group, in collaboration with our ICT services, to oversee the correct usage and deployment of any such systems or services including the development of a wider AI usage Policy Framework.

Artificial intelligence for personal productivity

If any AI product is used solely as a drafting or research tool by a member of staff for personal productivity or accessibility benefits, disclosure is not required. These tools are designed to aid individual tasks and do not impact broader business processes or decision-making. Therefore, no specific notification will be provided for such uses.

Governance

The use of AI will take place in accordance with the Council’s Information Governance policy framework, the ICT security Policy and the draft overarching AI Implementation Policy.