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AI Use Policy · transparency · UK GDPR Art. 22

AI use policy

Last updated: 7 July 2026 | Version 2.1

Version 2.1 (7 July 2026) describes our own AI assistants (Sarah, Henry, Alexandra, NEXUS, Alfred) more plainly and honestly, confirms that we never market to a Business Owner's own customers, and reframes how we explain automated dispatch and AI accuracy so the protections and the human oversight are clear. No feature or right changed.

OptiTech Automation uses artificial intelligence in two ways: features inside the platform that help trade businesses manage their operations, and AI systems that OptiTech Automation itself uses to run its own marketing, sales, and customer support. This policy explains what those systems are, what they do not do, how data is used, which AI providers are involved, and your rights.

1. What AI features are on the platform

Business Owners can use three AI-assisted features: an AI assistant (general business support), AI-generated scheduling suggestions, and automated dispatch (a rule-based engine that ranks available workers for incoming jobs). Separately, OptiTech Automation operates its own AI systems to run its marketing, sales, and support — described in section 1a.

The following AI-powered features are available on the OptiTech Automation platform:

AI assistant

The AI assistant is an AI assistant available to Business Owners within the platform. The AI assistant is powered by the Anthropic Claude API. the AI assistant can help with drafting job descriptions, answering questions about platform features, suggesting communication templates, and providing general business guidance. the AI assistant does not have access to worker employment records or customer financial data.

AI-generated scheduling suggestions

The platform uses AI to suggest optimal scheduling for jobs based on factors such as worker availability, location, estimated travel time (via Mapbox), and historical job duration. These suggestions are presented to the Business Owner as recommendations only. The Business Owner makes the final scheduling decision.

Automated dispatch

Automated dispatch is the platform's automated job-allocation system (known as "Keith"). It is rule-based and deterministic — it does not use a large language model. It ranks available workers for an incoming job using proximity (a haversine calculation from worker GPS location via Mapbox), worker skills and certifications, current availability, and historical acceptance rates, all according to rules the Business Owner configures. It can send job offers automatically based on that configuration. Because it can allocate work without a human reviewing each individual offer, it involves automated decision-making; your rights in relation to that are set out in section 6. The Business Owner retains full control over the dispatch rules and can override any suggestion at any time.

1a. AI systems OptiTech Automation operates in running its own business

In addition to the in-platform features above, OptiTech Automation uses AI systems to run its own marketing, sales, and customer support. These systems face prospects, website visitors, and customers, and OptiTech Automation is the Data Controller for the personal data they process.

  • Sarah — the automated assistant on the OptiTech Automation marketing website. Sarah is powered by AI: it answers questions from visitors and helps them find the right information, and a person at OptiTech Automation stands behind it and can take over. It processes the free text a visitor types into the chat, and it does not need — and you should not enter — sensitive personal information.
  • Henry — our sales-support system. It helps draft and sort replies in business-to-business outreach and support conversations. A person reviews outreach before it is sent, and a person is responsible for every reply.
  • Alexandra — our customer-nurture system. It helps us prepare follow-up messages to our own existing customers — meaning the trade businesses that subscribe to OptiTech Automation. To be clear, it is never used to message a Business Owner's own customers, and OptiTech Automation does not market to your customers. It does not make decisions about anyone's account.
  • NEXUS — our marketing-content system. It helps draft articles and posts for the OptiTech Automation website and social channels. Any content it helps produce is published under the OptiTech Automation brand as our own marketing (not as independent or third-party editorial), and a person reviews and approves it before it is published.
  • Alfred — the AI assistant that helps build and configure a Business Owner's site and platform setup during onboarding.

These systems are powered by third-party AI providers — Anthropic (the Claude API) and Groq — each engaged under a data processing agreement. Only the data needed to perform the task is sent. Anthropic does not train its models on data submitted through its API; where Groq is used, we likewise rely on a data processing agreement and send only what is necessary.

2. What AI does not do

AI on the OptiTech Automation platform does not make employment decisions, set worker pay, replace professional judgement for regulated trade work, or provide legal or tax advice.

It is important to be clear about the limits of AI on the OptiTech Automation platform. The following decisions and activities are explicitly outside the scope of what AI features can or do:

  • Employment decisions: AI does not make, recommend, or influence decisions to hire, dismiss, or change the engagement status of any worker. All employment and engagement decisions are made by the Business Owner and governed by UK employment law.
  • Worker pay: AI does not determine, set, recommend, or modify the pay or remuneration of any worker. Pay decisions are made exclusively by the Business Owner, subject to applicable UK employment law including National Minimum Wage obligations.
  • Professional judgement for regulated work: AI does not replace the professional judgement of qualified tradespeople for regulated work including gas installations and appliances (Gas Safe Register), electrical installations (NICEIC or equivalent), or any other regulated trade activity. All on-site decisions for regulated work are the responsibility of the qualified professional carrying out the work.
  • Legal or tax advice: No AI feature on the OptiTech Automation platform gives legal advice, tax advice, financial advice, or regulatory compliance advice. Any output from the AI assistant or other AI features that touches on legal or tax matters should be verified independently with a qualified professional. OptiTech Automation is not responsible for business decisions made in reliance on AI-generated content.

3. AI and accuracy

AI-generated suggestions may be wrong. Business Owners retain full responsibility for all decisions made using AI suggestions on the platform.

We would rather be straight with you than oversell the technology. Like all AI systems today — including the ones we use — AI can sometimes produce output that is inaccurate or incomplete. That is a known characteristic of current AI, not a fault in the platform, and it is precisely why we design a person into the loop and ask you to treat AI output as a helpful draft to check, not a final decision to rely on blindly.

Business Owners are responsible for reviewing AI-generated suggestions and outputs before acting on them. No AI suggestion on the OptiTech Automation platform should be followed without independent verification where the decision has significant consequences — for example, where it affects worker welfare, customer safety, or the Business Owner's legal obligations.

OptiTech Automation is not liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on AI-generated output. This limitation does not affect any liability OptiTech Automation has in law that cannot be excluded.

If you receive AI-generated output that appears to be factually wrong, harmful, or inappropriate, please report it to hello@optitechautomation.co.uk so we can investigate and improve.

4. Data used by AI features

AI features use job history, worker availability, and customer preferences stored in Supabase. AI inference is provided by Anthropic and Groq under data processing agreements. No data is sold, and Anthropic does not train on data we submit.

The following categories of platform data are used by AI features:

  • Job history: previous job records including trade type, location (postcode level), duration, and completion status — used by the automated dispatch system and scheduling AI
  • Worker availability: current shift status, accepted and declined job records, and GPS location during active duty — used by the automated dispatch system
  • Customer preferences: saved service addresses, preferred booking times, and historical booking patterns — used by scheduling suggestions

Data used by the in-platform AI features is processed and stored within Supabase (EU-based, Dublin / Republic of Ireland data centre). The AI inference itself is performed by our AI providers — Anthropic (the Claude API) and Groq — which receive only the data needed to perform the requested feature.

Data sent to Anthropic and to Groq is processed under a data processing agreement with each provider. Anthropic does not use data submitted through its API to train its models, and OptiTech Automation has not granted any training consent. Where Groq is used, we likewise rely on a data processing agreement and send only the data necessary to perform the feature. For details of Anthropic's data handling, see anthropic.com/privacy.

OptiTech Automation does not sell any data used by AI features to any third party. No personal data is shared with AI model providers beyond what is strictly necessary to deliver the AI feature, and only where a data processing agreement is in place.

Anthropic privacy policy: anthropic.com/privacy

5. Opting out of AI features

Business Owners can disable AI features — including the AI assistant and automatic dispatch — from platform settings at any time.

AI features on the OptiTech Automation platform are optional for Business Owners. You can enable or disable individual AI features at any time from your platform settings.

Specifically, Business Owners can:

  • Disable AI assistant — the AI assistant will no longer be available within your platform dashboard
  • Disable automatic dispatch — job offers will not be sent automatically; the Business Owner will manually assign all jobs
  • Disable AI scheduling suggestions — the scheduling view will show only manual inputs without AI-generated recommendations

Disabling AI features does not affect any other platform functionality. Your data continues to be processed for the non-AI functions of the platform as described in the Privacy Policy.

Workers and Customers cannot directly configure AI features — these settings are controlled by the Business Owner. If you are a worker with concerns about how AI is used in connection with your job assignments, raise this with your Business Owner.

6. AI and UK GDPR: automated decision-making

UK GDPR Article 22 protects individuals against decisions based solely on automated processing that significantly affect them. the system's automated job dispatch can produce such decisions in relation to workers by systematically affecting their working time and income. The Article 22(2)(a) contract-necessity exception may apply where dispatch is integral to the worker's contract with the Business Owner, provided Article 22(4) safeguards are available. Business Owners as Data Controllers are responsible for their own Article 22 compliance when using automated dispatch.

UK GDPR Article 22 gives individuals the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning them or similarly significantly affects them. This right is particularly relevant to automated job dispatch through the automated dispatch system, where the decision to send (or not send) a job offer to a specific worker is made without a human reviewing that individual allocation before it is dispatched.

Workers: we take automated dispatch seriously precisely because it can affect a person's livelihood, so we build real safeguards around it. The automated dispatch system can operate in a fully automated mode in which job offers are sent to workers without a human reviewing each individual allocation before it is dispatched, based on proximity, skills, availability, and acceptance rate. Because a sustained pattern of low allocation could, over time, affect a worker's income and working time, the law (UK GDPR Article 22) may treat this as a significant effect — which is why the Article 22 safeguards below must be available to the worker. The Business Owner is the Data Controller for worker data and is responsible for ensuring that their use of automated dispatch has a lawful basis under Article 22(2). Where Article 22(2)(a) (contract necessity) applies and the Business Owner enables automated dispatch, the Business Owner must ensure the Article 22(4) safeguards are available to affected workers: the right to obtain human intervention, the right to express a point of view, and the right to contest the decision. Where Article 22(2)(a) does not apply to a particular worker's engagement, the Business Owner must either: obtain the worker's explicit consent under Article 22(2)(c) before enabling fully automated dispatch for that worker; or configure the system to require Business Owner review and approval before each offer is sent to that worker. The Business Owner as Data Controller is responsible for making and documenting this assessment for their own workforce.

Customers: Where a Business Owner uses AI scheduling suggestions to propose appointment times, the customer selects from the times offered and the Business Owner or customer confirms the booking. In its current design, the AI scheduling feature does not automatically accept or reject a customer booking without Business Owner or customer involvement. On this basis, the AI scheduling feature does not, in its current design, produce a decision based solely on automated processing within the meaning of Article 22 in relation to customers. If the Business Owner configures a future feature that produces such a decision in relation to customers, the Business Owner as Data Controller must conduct their own Article 22 assessment before deploying it.

  • Workers: the right to obtain human intervention from your Business Owner -- you may ask your Business Owner to review the dispatch configuration applied to your profile and explain why you are receiving (or not receiving) particular job offers
  • Workers: the right to express your point of view -- tell your Business Owner if you believe automated allocation does not accurately reflect your skills, availability, or capacity
  • Workers: the right to contest the decision -- ask your Business Owner to adjust dispatch rules, override a specific automated allocation, or switch from automated to manually reviewed dispatch for your profile

To exercise Article 22 rights in relation to automated job dispatch: contact your Business Owner in the first instance. The Business Owner is the Data Controller for your personal data and is responsible for the dispatch configuration. OptiTech Automation processes your data on the Business Owner's instructions and does not independently configure or adjust dispatch rules for individual workers. If your Business Owner fails to respond to a rights request within one calendar month, you may escalate to the ICO at ico.org.uk. If your concern relates to how the platform is designed rather than how your Business Owner has configured it, email privacy@optitechautomation.co.uk. hello@optitechautomation.co.uk

OptiTech Automation maintains Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) covering AI features that may significantly affect individuals, including the automated dispatch system. These DPIAs are reviewed and updated whenever the relevant AI features are materially changed. Business Owners who enable automated dispatch are encouraged to assess whether their own use of the feature requires a DPIA under UK GDPR Article 35 in the context of their specific business and workforce, having regard to the ICO's DPIA guidance.

7. Governing law and contact

Governing law: This policy is governed by the law of England and Wales. UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to all data processing described in this policy.

Regulator: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK data protection regulator. You may complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113. ico.org.uk

Updates: This policy may be updated when we add, change, or remove AI features. We will notify Business Owner subscribers of material changes at least 30 days before they take effect.

Questions about AI features: hello@optitechautomation.co.uk. Privacy and data rights: privacy@optitechautomation.co.uk. hello@optitechautomation.co.uk / privacy@optitechautomation.co.uk