How to use AI in the workplace

AI in the workplace means using AI tools to help staff with routine tasks such as writing emails, re­search­ing in­form­a­tion and analysing data. Using AI for these tasks can speed up everyday work, help teams organise in­form­a­tion and reduce the time spent on re­pet­it­ive tasks. Staff do not need spe­cial­ist IT skills for basic uses. Busi­nesses can also introduce AI without making major changes to their existing IT systems.

What tasks can AI support in the workplace?

Ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence is par­tic­u­larly useful when work is re­pet­it­ive, follows pre­dict­able patterns or involves large amounts of text and in­form­a­tion. AI usually supports part of the work rather than com­plet­ing the whole job. For example, it can produce drafts, summaries or analyses for staff to review and develop further.

AI is also widely used for customer-facing work, not just or­gan­isa­tion­al and ana­lyt­ic­al tasks. Regular surveys by the industry as­so­ci­ation Bitkom show that direct customer contact is the most common use among busi­nesses that have adopted AI. A similarly high pro­por­tion use AI to create marketing content and draft messages for people inside and outside the business.

Common uses of ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence in the workplace include:

What are the benefits of AI in the workplace for SMEs?

Small and medium-sized en­ter­prises often have fewer staff and spe­cial­ist de­part­ments than large companies. This means AI can be par­tic­u­larly useful when routine tasks take up time that employees need for other work.

Research into the use of AI in the workplace points to clear, meas­ur­able benefits in day-to-day office work. Employees most often report sub­stan­tial time savings, followed by lower costs and fewer errors. Automated text gen­er­a­tion remains by far the most common use of AI at work.

• Higher pro­ductiv­ity: AI can prepare drafts, summaries and initial analyses in less time. Staff can spend more time advising customers, making decisions and handling work that requires spe­cial­ist judgement.
• Support outside business hours: Chatbots and phone as­sist­ants can answer routine questions when the office is closed. Complex enquiries, com­plaints and disputes still need to be handled by a person.
• More capacity during busy periods: AI can deal with more enquiries when demand rises without the business im­me­di­ately needing to hire more staff. People are still needed to check the work, handle unusual cases and speak to customers directly.
• Fewer mistakes in routine work: AI can sort in­form­a­tion, transfer data and fill in standard templates, helping to reduce typing mistakes and simple over­sights. However, poor source data or unclear in­struc­tions can cause the same error to appear re­peatedly.
• Faster access to in­form­a­tion: AI can search long documents, explain how different points relate and help staff find internal in­form­a­tion. This saves them from having to search through several files each time.
• Help with de­vel­op­ing ideas: AI can generate ideas, create outlines and offer al­tern­at­ive versions. Staff still need to decide what works, assess the quality and turn the best ideas into finished work.

Some employees are also concerned that in­creas­ing auto­ma­tion could put their jobs at risk. Employers should take these concerns seriously. At the same time, dis­cus­sions about job losses can overlook how AI may reduce re­pet­it­ive work and create new op­por­tun­it­ies for employees over the longer term.

AI in the workplace does not ne­ces­sar­ily mean that jobs will disappear. More often, it changes the work people do. AI can take over in­di­vidu­al tasks, reshape roles and help busi­nesses and staff keep up with tech­no­lo­gic­al change. This means busi­nesses may need to redesign workflows and employees may need to learn new skills. Over time, this can make the business more com­pet­it­ive and improve employees’ career prospects.

How can busi­nesses use AI in line with the UK GDPR?

When a business uses an AI tool to process personal data, it must follow the UK General Data Pro­tec­tion Reg­u­la­tion and the Data Pro­tec­tion Act 2018. Busi­nesses need to un­der­stand what in­form­a­tion staff will enter, why it is needed, what the provider will do with it and who can access it. They should also check where the data is stored and processed. Keeping it in the UK or European Economic Area can make in­ter­na­tion­al transfers easier to manage, but the server location alone does not make an AI tool compliant.

Busi­nesses should also check which laws apply to the provider and whether data can be accessed from outside the UK. This is par­tic­u­larly relevant for US providers, as the US CLOUD Act may require them to disclose data even when it is stored in another country.

Whether an AI tool can be used in line with the UK GDPR depends on how it is used and con­figured, what data it handles and how the provider stores and processes that data. The following checklist covers the main points busi­nesses should review.

Checklist for using AI in line with the UK GDPR:

• Define the purpose and data involved: Decide what the tool will be used for and whether staff will enter personal, con­fid­en­tial or sensitive in­form­a­tion.
• Update pro­cessing records: Where required, document the AI tool, the people and data involved, who receives the data and how long it is kept.
• Check the provider contract: If the provider processes personal data on your behalf, check that the contract meets Article 28 re­quire­ments and iden­ti­fies sub­con­tract­ors and in­ter­na­tion­al transfers.
• Check where the data is handled: Find out where data is stored and accessed, and which laws apply to the provider and its parent company.
• Prevent training on company data: Use the contract or account settings to ensure that prompts, uploaded files and outputs are not used to train or improve the provider’s AI models.
• Use only the data you need: Remove names and other personal details where possible, or replace them with codes. Only enter passwords, trade secrets, health in­form­a­tion or other sensitive data into systems approved for that purpose.
• Limit access: Set up accounts, roles and per­mis­sions so that only au­thor­ised staff can access chats, files and internal in­form­a­tion.
• Assess risks and automated decisions: A data pro­tec­tion impact as­sess­ment may be needed where the risks are high. Put ap­pro­pri­ate safe­guards and human review in place when automated decisions could sig­ni­fic­antly affect people.

How do AI tools for the workplace compare?

The right AI tool for an SME is not simply the one with the most capable model. It also needs to work with the software the business already uses, be easy for staff to adopt and give the business enough control over its data. Before choosing a tool, check how it fits into existing workflows, where prompts and files are stored and processed, and how quickly staff can start using it.

ChatGPT Business can support a wide range of tasks. However, busi­nesses with strict data pro­tec­tion re­quire­ments should check where their data is processed, which con­trac­tu­al terms apply and whether their chosen plan includes data residency in Europe. ChatGPT Business does not currently include regional data residency, so busi­nesses that require European hosting may need to carry out ad­di­tion­al checks. This is one of the key dif­fer­ences between IONOS GPT and ChatGPT.

Microsoft 365 Copilot and Google Gemini work best for busi­nesses that already use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Staff can draft emails, edit documents, analyse spread­sheets and summarise meetings without leaving the ap­plic­a­tions they use every day. This is con­veni­ent, but it also makes a business more dependent on Microsoft or Google.

IONOS GPT runs directly in the browser and does not require a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace sub­scrip­tion. As well as drafting text and re­search­ing in­form­a­tion, it can analyse uploaded contracts, spread­sheets and reports. For more demanding tasks, ‘Reasoning Mode’ works through complex questions step by step. It can help busi­nesses compare financial outcomes, review contracts and weigh the pros and cons of different decisions.

How to introduce AI in the workplace

A good place to start is with a routine task where the results are easy to check. Rather than changing several processes at once, SMEs should choose one clear use case and expand their use of AI gradually.

1. Choose a task and set a goal area: Look for work that regularly takes up a lot of time, such as drafting emails, sum­mar­ising documents or writing meeting minutes. Other suitable tasks might include carrying out initial research or or­gan­ising in­form­a­tion for proposals. Set a meas­ur­able goal, such as reducing turn­around times or making documents more con­sist­ent. This also helps staff un­der­stand what AI can real­ist­ic­ally achieve.
2. Choose the right AI tool: Make sure the tool can handle the task and meets your business’s re­quire­ments for data pro­tec­tion, data residency and ease of use. Browser-based SaaS tools such as IONOS GPT can be used without having to install any software, setting up a dedicated AI team or making changes to existing systems. Busi­nesses still need to review data pro­tec­tion, manage user access and set internal rules.
3. Set clear rules for staff: Explain what in­form­a­tion staff may enter, which tasks the tool may be used for and who needs to check the results. Without clear rules, employees may share con­fid­en­tial in­form­a­tion or use AI-generated content without reviewing it properly.
4. Provide training for employees: Show staff how to use the tool for tasks they handle in their day-to-day work. They should learn how to write effective prompts, identify sensitive in­form­a­tion and check the quality of the results.
5. Run a small pilot: Test the tool with one task, a small team or a single de­part­ment. Track how long the work takes, the quality of the results, common errors and staff feedback. Do not use real customer or employee data until data pro­tec­tion re­quire­ments and access per­mis­sions have been addressed.
6. Review the pilot before expanding: Review whether the pilot met its goal and identify anything that needs improving. Fix any problems before in­tro­du­cing AI to other tasks.

What are the risks as­so­ci­ated with ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence in the workplace?

AI can make everyday work easier, but it also creates risks around accuracy, legal com­pli­ance and staff re­spons­ib­il­it­ies. Busi­nesses can reduce these risks by choosing suitable tools, setting clear rules for how AI may be used and ensuring that staff check AI-generated content.

1. Incorrect in­form­a­tion: AI can produce answers that sound con­vin­cing but are wrong. These errors, often called hal­lu­cin­a­tions, may include invented figures, sources or legal ref­er­ences. Staff should check facts, cal­cu­la­tions and citations against reliable original sources.
2. Data pro­tec­tion and con­fid­en­ti­al­ity: Entering customer, employee or business data into an un­ap­proved tool could expose con­fid­en­tial in­form­a­tion or breach UK GDPR re­quire­ments. Or­gan­isa­tions should check where the data is stored and accessed, whether the provider uses it to train its models and what safe­guards are in place. Staff should only enter the in­form­a­tion needed for the task and use tools approved by the or­gan­isa­tion.
3. Loss of skills and judgement: If AI handles routine work from start to finish, staff may have fewer op­por­tun­it­ies to practise spe­cial­ist skills or carry out the checks that catch mistakes. AI can help prepare work, organise in­form­a­tion and suggest options, but people should still make pro­fes­sion­al judge­ments and remain re­spons­ible for the final outcome.
4. Copyright and other legal issues: AI-generated text, images or code can create copyright issues. The UK does not currently have a single law covering every use of AI, so different laws apply depending on how the tool is used. Busi­nesses should set clear rules on what may be published, when the use of AI should be disclosed and which content needs spe­cial­ist or legal review.
5. Staff concerns: Employees may see AI as a mon­it­or­ing tool or worry that it could replace part of their role. A 2026 UK survey by The Policy Institute at King’s College London found that almost four in ten workers were worried that AI could replace their job. Employers should explain which tasks AI will support, which decisions must still be made by staff and what training will be provided. Involving employees in choosing and testing tools can also help address these concerns.

The main issue is not simply what an AI tool can do, but how the business uses it. Clear re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, rules on how AI may be used and early staff in­volve­ment are essential.

What does AI in the workplace mean for SMEs?

SMEs can already use AI to draft content, carry out research, analyse documents and answer customer enquiries. It works par­tic­u­larly well for routine tasks where staff can check the output easily, helping busi­nesses finish work faster and spend less time on re­pet­it­ive tasks.

SMEs should choose a tool that fits the way they work, protects their data and meets UK GDPR re­quire­ments. They should also set clear rules for how staff may use AI, require them to check the content it produces and introduce it one task at a time. Browser-based SaaS tools such as IONOS GPT let SMEs get started without an in-house AI team or major changes to their existing systems.