Across research, evaluation, facilitation, policy and organisational settings, many people are exploring how AI can assist with early thinking, drafting, analysis and preparation. The question is often not whether to use AI, but how to do so in ways that align with values, support good judgement and strengthen work with others.
This page brings together a small set of pages and reflections on using AI in grounded and intentional ways. The focus is on practical uses that sit alongside human work, supporting clarity, reflection and collaboration, while leaving interpretation, relationships and decisions with people.
The pages and posts below bring together curated and annotated links to guides and practical starting points, alongside reflections from practice. They explore how AI can be woven into work, from individual reflection and research preparation through to shared thinking in teams, groups and place-based initiatives.
Explore AI resources
Use this section to find a useful starting point, whether you are new to AI, thinking about wider ethical questions, using AI as a thought partner, developing prompts, or exploring how AI changes shared work.
- If you are new to using AI in research or practice
Start with Using AI in research and practice for practical entry points on preparation, reflection, analysis and writing. - If you want to understand the wider context
Go to AI in context: the wider picture and Seeing the wider ethical picture around AI development and use for resources on ethics, power, responsibility and the conditions shaping AI use. - If you are using AI for reflective practice or writing
Read AI as a thought partner and AI prompts for shared thinking for practical reflections on using AI to support early thinking, drafting and preparation. - If AI is entering shared work
Explore Working with AI in the room and AI in place-based practice for reflections on authorship, trust, collective judgement and shared sense-making. - If your team or organisation is deciding where to begin
Visit Working with AI: where to begin for a practical starting point for conversations about purpose, use, review and responsibility.
Browse the AI pages and posts
The starting points above help visitors move quickly to the part of the AI material that best matches their current task. The pages and posts below provide a fuller map of this section.
Using AI in research and practice
Introduces ways AI can support researchers, evaluators, facilitators, policy actors, and practitioners. It offers practical entry points for using AI to prepare, reflect, analyse, and work more effectively, while keeping context and human judgement at the centre. This page is a good place to start if you are unsure how AI might sit alongside your current practice.
AI in context: the wider picture
Explores AI within its social, ethical, and organisational settings. It highlights the importance of power, values, and wider conditions when thinking about how AI is developed and used across society. This page provides grounding for those wanting to balance practical use with care, responsibility, and awareness of the broader landscape.
AI as a thought partner: reflections on collaborative practice and systems work
A reflective post sharing personal experience of using AI as a quiet thought partner in facilitation, writing, and systems-focused work. It offers practical examples of how AI can support early thinking and drafting, while reinforcing the importance of relational, human-led practice. Useful for those curious about how AI can sit gently within reflective work.
AI prompts for shared thinking: a light framework for purposeful prompting
Introduces a simple prompting framework to support thinking, writing, and preparation. The approach keeps context, relationships, and human purpose in view when using AI tools. It provides a small set of practices that can help teams bring intentionality to how they engage with AI.
Working with AI in the room: authorship, responsibility, and collective judgement
Reflects on what changes when AI moves from individual use into shared work such as meetings, workshops, strategy sessions, and collaborative writing. The post explores how AI intersects with authorship, responsibility, trust, and collective judgement, and why unease often centres less on the tools themselves than on how shared sense-making is held.
Seeing the wider ethical picture around AI development and use
Maps the ethical landscape around AI by distinguishing between structural concerns, such as infrastructure, labour, and power, and practice-level issues that arise in everyday use. The post explores questions of reliability, judgement, and responsibility, and helps clarify why debates about AI often feel polarised. It offers a grounded way to understand what is at stake without reducing the discussion to simple positions.
AI in place-based practice: what is shifting
Reflects on how AI is beginning to shape collaborative, place-based work such as freshwater management, land use, and community decision-making. Drawing on a futures lens, the post explores what is changing in how people prepare, frame issues, and make sense of complex situations, alongside emerging organisational responses. It highlights areas of uncertainty while reaffirming the importance of judgement, relationships, and collective sense-making in real-world settings.
Working with AI: where to begin
Offers a practical starting point for organisations, teams, or programmes thinking about how to engage with AI more deliberately. The post outlines five areas to work through, from getting the right people involved to building in regular review, with questions to help begin those conversations. It focuses on starting with what is already happening and building shared understanding through use, rather than putting a complete framework in place from the outset.
Quick answers to common questions
How can AI support reflective practice and collaboration?
AI can help with early thinking, preparation, and sense-making. It can summarise ideas, offer alternative framings, and provide drafts to work from. The value increases when these outputs are paired with group reflection and discussion, so people shape meaning together rather than relying on AI for conclusions.
Is AI suitable for participatory or multi-actor work?
Yes, if used thoughtfully. AI can help prepare materials, generate content, and surface ideas, giving groups more time for dialogue and relationship-building. It should not replace lived experience, cultural knowledge, or collective sense-making. Keeping purpose, equity, and context in view helps ensure AI supports rather than dominates group work.
What skills do teams need to use AI well?
A clear sense of purpose, curiosity, and reflective habits matter more than technical expertise. It helps to start small, test AI in low-stakes tasks, and review the outputs together. Skills in facilitation, ethics, and critical thinking remain essential for shaping how AI is used in real-world settings.
Can AI improve efficiency without losing the human element?
AI can assist with drafting and organising, freeing time for work that needs human attention. The balance is to use AI as quiet support, while people keep decisions, relationships, and sense-making in their own hands. Checking outputs together helps ensure the human element stays central.
These resources are for practitioners, policymakers, facilitators and others looking to use AI in ways that are inclusive, reflective and grounded in real practice. The aim is not to use AI for its own sake, but to draw on it where it helps us focus on what matters most: working with others, exercising judgement and navigating complex settings with care.
[* Image by Jintana / Adobe Stock]