Personal Data and AI in Consultation Analysis: What you need to know

As AI tools become more common in consultation workflows, one of the first questions we hear is:

“How is personal data handled?”

It’s an important question and one we take seriously.

At The Future Fox, we believe technology should build trust, not risk it. That’s why ConsultAI has been designed to analyse consultation data without requiring personal data at all.

Do you need to submit personal data to use ConsultAI?

No. ConsultAI is focused on the content of what people say, not who they are.

Our analysis doesn’t depend on names, email addresses, postcodes, or other identifiers. In fact, most of our users anonymise their datasets before uploading them.

That said, we understand that real-world comments can sometimes include personal or special category data, for example, a resident mentioning their disability, or referencing a specific home address.

What happens if personal data is included?

If this kind of data is explicitly submitted in your file (as a column or field), it’s never shared outside our secure UK infrastructure.

If it’s embedded within a free-text comment (and thus harder to isolate), it may be processed securely by our GDPR-compliant subprocessors outside the EU - but only under strict safeguards. These subprocessors are transparently listed in our Terms and Conditions.

In all cases, we comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act. We don’t use your data for anything other than the analysis you’ve requested.

Does ConsultAI learn from my data?

No. Your data is yours - full stop.

We do not use any project data to train, fine-tune, or adjust our models. ConsultAI applies pre-trained models securely, with your analysis outputs kept entirely separate.

What can you do to prepare your data?

We recommend removing identifiable information before uploading if possible, or flagging it to us if you’d like support anonymising your data.

If you're unsure what counts as personal or special category data, our team can help you understand your obligations and best practices.

In short…

🔒 ConsultAI doesn’t require personal data.

🧾 If any is included, it’s handled with GDPR-compliant safeguards.

🚫 Your data is never used to train our AI models.

💬 We focus on what people say, not who they are.

Find out more in our FAQs.

Want to know more about how ConsultAI fits into your consultation process? Book a quick call with us.