Our approach to artificial intelligence 

Artificial intelligence is part of how we work, and we are open about it. We use AI to deliver better outcomes for our clients, faster and at lower risk, while keeping people firmly in control of the decisions that matter. This page explains where we use AI, the principles that govern it, and the commitments we make to protect your information.

If you have a question about anything here, we would rather you asked than wondered. Our contact details are at the bottom of the page.

Why we use AI

We use AI because it helps us do our job better, not because it is fashionable. Used well, it lets our consultants spend less time on repetitive work and more time on the things that need judgement, experience, and a human conversation. That is consistent with how we have always worked: digital-first, human when it matters.

In practice, AI helps us:

• analyse large volumes of information quickly, so insights surface sooner
• accelerate research, drafting, and design exploration, leaving more time for review and refinement
• build, test, and document software more efficiently
• give clients options and evidence earlier in a project, when decisions are cheaper to change

We are equally clear about what AI does not change. It does not replace the accountability of our people, the rigour of our delivery method, or the relationship we have with you. The value we add comes from how we apply the technology, not the technology itself.

The principles we hold ourselves to

Our use of AI is guided by Australia's AI Ethics Principles, the national framework published by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. In plain terms, this means we commit to the following.

• Benefit, not harm. We use AI to create value for our clients, their customers, and the wider community, and we weigh the potential for harm before we deploy it.
• People stay in control. AI supports our consultants; it does not make consequential decisions on its own. A qualified person reviews and stands behind the work.
• Fairness. We take care that AI-assisted work does not produce biased, discriminatory, or exclusionary outcomes, and we design with accessibility in mind.
• Privacy and security. We protect the data entrusted to us and apply strong controls to the tools we use. More detail is in the section on your data below.
• Reliability and safety. We test AI-assisted outputs against the same quality standards as any other work and monitor the tools we rely on.
• Transparency. We are open about when and how we use AI, both with you and with the people your projects affect.
• Contestability. Where AI meaningfully influences an outcome, there is a clear way to question it and have a person look again.
• Accountability. Named people are responsible for how we use AI. Accountability sits with us; it is never outsourced to a tool.

How we use AI when we deliver for you

Our delivery is governed by CoreMethods, our quality-assured framework, and supported by our ISO 9001-certified quality management system. AI fits inside that discipline rather than around it.

A few commitments shape every engagement:

• A person is always accountable. AI may help draft a document, generate code, summarise research, or explore a design. A qualified consultant always reviews, corrects, and owns the result before it reaches you. We do not hand you unchecked machine output.
• We use AI where it genuinely helps. We apply it to the parts of the work where it improves speed, quality, or insight, and we leave it out where human judgement, stakeholder trust, or sensitivity demands a different approach.
• We are transparent in our work. If AI has played a material role in something we deliver, we will tell you. If you would prefer we limit or exclude AI on a particular engagement, we will discuss it and agree an approach that suits you.
• Your outcomes come first. AI helps us move faster and cover more ground, but the test we apply is always whether it improves the outcome for you, not whether it saves us effort.

Your data and confidentiality

Protecting the information you share with us is non-negotiable. Our commitments on AI and data are straightforward.

• We do not feed your confidential data into public AI tools. Client information, personal data, and commercially sensitive material are not entered into consumer or public AI services where that data could be retained, exposed, or used to train someone else's model.
• We use enterprise-grade tools with appropriate protections. Where AI is used on client work, we rely on enterprise services, primarily within the Microsoft ecosystem, that are governed by contractual data protections and do not use your data to train foundation models. We configure these tools to keep your data within the boundaries we have agreed with you.
• We respect data residency and your contractual terms. Where you have requirements about where data is stored and processed, including Australian data residency, we honour them. Engagement-specific confidentiality and data handling terms always take precedence over anything described here.
• We apply established security practice. AI tools sit within our broader information security and data governance controls, including access management, and we treat AI-specific risks such as data provenance and prompt exposure as part of that.

If your organisation has its own AI or data handling requirements, we will work within them.

How our people use AI

We expect our people to use AI responsibly, and we equip them to do so.

Our staff use approved tools under an internal acceptable-use policy that sets out what is and is not permitted, with particular attention to client confidentiality. We invest in training so our teams understand both the capabilities and the limits of these tools, including the risk of over-reliance and the need to verify outputs. We are clear internally that accountability for any work assisted by AI rests with the person who produces it.

Governance and accountability

Responsible AI is not a one-off statement; it is an ongoing practice. Our governance reflects that.

Accountability for AI use sits with our leadership, not with the technology or with individual discretion alone. We maintain internal policies covering acceptable use, data handling, and oversight, and we align our approach with the Australian Government's Voluntary AI Safety Standard, which is built around ten practical guardrails and maps to the international standard ISO/IEC 42001. We keep this approach under review as the technology, the regulatory environment, and good practice continue to develop.

Questions, concerns, and contestability

If you believe AI has been used in a way you are not comfortable with, or you want to understand how it has shaped something we have delivered, tell us. We will explain what was done, who was accountable, and what we will do about it. Where an AI-assisted output has affected you and you want it reconsidered, a person will review it.

We welcome the conversation. You can reach us here.