A social work report tells a life story, sometimes a child's, often one of hardship. Writing alone, in the service's case management software, with a consumer AI or a confidential AI: the comparison, and when to choose which.
"The judge wants the report by Thursday, and I still have three home visits before then." You hear it in every service, between two appointments, in front of a pile of handwritten notes. The social work report is the heaviest piece of writing in the job: a family history, observed facts, the person's own words, an assessment and a recommendation.
Pasting your notes into a consumer AI tool is tempting. But they contain the most exposed parts of a life, and they would end up with a provider nobody chose.
A social work report shapes a decision: a protection measure, support, a placement. It goes to a judge, a panel, a partner agency, and the person concerned or their family can often read it.
The framework is strict. In many countries, social workers are bound by professional secrecy, either by law or through their role, and breaching it is a criminal offence; between professionals, only what is necessary is shared. In Switzerland, official secrecy under Article 320 of the Swiss Criminal Code applies to public service staff, and the FADP classes data on social assistance measures as sensitive personal data, just like health data; cantonal laws complete this framework for public administrations. In the European Union, the GDPR protects the data of the people you support.
Your employer's rules come first. If AI is banned where you work, raise the need rather than working around the rule.
Four approaches coexist in services. They do not protect the person in the same way.
| Alone, from your notes | The service's case management software | Consumer AI | Confidential AI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What leaves the service | Nothing | Nothing beyond the tool chosen by the employer | The pasted notes, sent to a provider nobody chose | Nothing to a third party with the confidential models |
| What is kept, and where | Your drafts, on your computer | The case file, in the software, for the set retention period | The history, often for a long time, at the provider's | The history in your browser, nothing on our side |
| Who decides | You | The service | The provider's terms | You, by choosing the model and what you write |
| Help with writing | None | Templates, rarely more | Strong, but on exposed data | Strong, on a situation described without identity |
| Effort | High: several hours per report | Medium: the template helps, the writing is still yours | Low, at the cost of confidentiality | Low, after ten minutes sorting your notes |
| Risk of re-identification | None | That of the service's tool | High: a town, an age, a set of siblings are enough | Limited if you remove identifying details |
Alone, for situations where nothing should go through a tool: a child in immediate danger, a disclosure of abuse, ongoing criminal proceedings. In those cases, you write it yourself and have a colleague or a manager review it.
The case management software, for everything that belongs in the file: identity, measures, documents, deadlines. The final report lives there, with the names.
Consumer AI, for anything that contains no real situation: understanding a scheme, rewording a blank template. Before pasting anything into it, reread the data never to paste into an AI.
Confidential AI, for writing about a real situation, once the notes have been cleared of anything that identifies: putting things in order, separating facts from assessment.
First, describe the situation, not the person. "A single mother of three, whose eldest has not been to school for two months" is enough to get help with the form. Name, address, school, first names and case number stay in the service's software. Removing names is not enough to anonymise, as our guide to anonymisation and pseudonymisation explains: a small town or an unusual job points to a family just as well as a name.
In IA Confidential, create a space, for example "Reports", and write the space instructions in the Assistant tab: the outline of your reports, the tone your readers expect, and a rule that matters in this job: always separate observed facts, the person's own words and your assessment. These instructions take precedence over your general preferences and apply to every conversation in the space. In the Privacy panel, add your anonymisation instructions: names of partner organisations, case references, names of neighbourhoods.
By default, your requests are handled by open models installed on servers in Switzerland, which pass nothing on to third parties. For a report, they are all you need.
First request, based on your sorted notes:
Here are my notes from three interviews and a home visit with a family I support. Format them following the space's outline. Strictly separate the facts I observed, the reported statements (in quotation marks, word for word) and my assessment. Do not add any fact, interpretation or conclusion I have not written. If some information seems to be missing for the assessment section, flag it at the end instead of assuming it.
Second request, to review before sending:
Review this draft report for a judge. Flag the sentences that judge the person rather than describe a situation, the jargon an outside reader would not understand, and the statements that rest on no cited fact. Suggest a neutral rewording for each, without changing the meaning or the final recommendation. Also flag any detail that would make the family recognisable.
The assistant can write the report as a document, which you edit, print to PDF or export to Word or OpenDocument. The layout is rebuilt from the text: transfer the content into your service's template, then add the identities in the case management software.
AI can be wrong and confidently invent things: attribute to a mother a sentence she never said, turn hesitation into refusal, slip in a word that discredits. Reread everything, and keep the final recommendation for yourself: the assessment is a professional act, and your signature carries your responsibility.
It has not seen the home or heard a teenager's silence: it puts into words what you have understood.
With a confidential model, your notes and the answers are processed on servers located in Switzerland, under the Swiss data protection act, outside the reach of the CLOUD Act, and nothing is kept on our side: the history stays in your browser.
Nothing goes to an external model unless you decide so. If you choose one and your message contains sensitive data, the Confidentiality filter offers to answer with a confidential model, message intact, or to send an anonymised version that you review first. Sending it as it is remains your choice; for a social work report, stay on the confidential models.
Computers in a service are often shared. The history can be read by anyone using the same browser session: work in a personal session, delete the conversations once the report has been transferred to the software, and log out when you leave.
Local authority staff will find similar habits in our guide on service users' data. To try the first request on a made-up situation: open the chat.
