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How LobbyGov with AI uses AI and your data

Brady Horenstein
Updated

Applies to: LobbyGov with AI. The LobbyGov Legacy site does not use AI.

LobbyGov uses generative AI from OpenAI in a few optional features, and an account can turn all of them off. The AI is never trained on your data, and nothing one account enters is used for another.

Short answers

Question Answer
Does LobbyGov use generative AI? Yes, in the six optional features listed below. All use OpenAI models.
Does the AI act on its own? No. In the AI Report Builder the AI chooses which read-only lookups to run, such as a bill's votes. It cannot change data, send email, or create reports or schedules, and a person starts every run and reads the result.
Does the AI learn from what we enter? No. No model is trained or fine-tuned on customer data.
Does it read information we enter? Only in the AI Report Builder, and only when a person on your account uses it. It never reads Bill Analysis answers.
Are AI bill summaries built from our data? No. Shared summaries are written from public legislative records only, such as bill text, the Legislature's bill reports and roll calls.
Can we turn AI off? Yes. One account setting turns off every AI feature and all AI-written content for everyone on the account. See Turn AI features on or off.

The AI features

  • AI bill snapshot: a short and a detailed plain-language summary on each bill's page, written from public records and shown to every account.
  • AI bill summaries: additional summaries of a bill, used on bill pages and as an optional report column, written from public records.
  • Ask AI about a bill: answers a question you type about one bill, using public records about that bill and your conversation so far.
  • Ask AI about the RCW, WAC or a rule: answers a question you type about a section of law or a rulemaking, using public statute and rule text and the bills that change it.
  • AI Report Builder (Beta): answers questions about your account's tracked bills, or drafts a memo or update you can save. This is the only feature that reads anything your account entered.
  • Similar bills: suggests related bills on a bill's page, based on public bill titles and descriptions. It compares bills for similarity and does not generate text.

What is sent to the AI

Your account's data reaches the AI only when someone on your account runs the AI Report Builder, and only to answer that person. In that case the following is sent:

  • The question or request the person types, and the conversation so far.
  • Your account's tracking details for the bills in question: positions, priorities, client and list names, and list comments.
  • Your account's notes on bills and legislators, and vote card positions and notes.

The AI sees only what the person running it can already see in LobbyGov. It cannot reach another person's private items or another account.

What is never sent to the AI

  • Bill Analysis work: assignments, reviews, answers, approvals and comments.
  • Custom fields, uploaded files, distribution lists, email addresses and passwords.
  • Anything from another account.

Where the results go

  • Shared bill summaries and similar-bill suggestions are made from public records only, so they carry nothing from any account.
  • AI Report Builder answers and drafts are stored in your account and visible to the person who asked. A draft becomes a file only when that person saves it.
  • Ask AI conversations about a bill are stored in your account and can be seen by others on the same account. RCW, WAC and rule conversations are not stored.

The AI provider

  • All AI features use OpenAI's business API, called from LobbyGov's servers. You never connect to OpenAI directly, and no OpenAI account is created for you.
  • OpenAI does not use data sent through its API to train or improve its models unless the customer opts in. LobbyGov has not opted in.
  • OpenAI keeps abuse-monitoring logs for up to 30 days unless longer retention is required by law. LobbyGov asks OpenAI not to store conversation history beyond that.
  • OpenAI offers Zero Data Retention to eligible business customers. LobbyGov can apply for it if your agency requires it.
  • Every request is sent over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.

Safeguards

  • Facts come from records, not the AI. In the AI Report Builder, LobbyGov looks up the facts and the AI only chooses and words them. Vote counts are re-read from the official roll call before they are shown.
  • Every fact is sourced. Answers and drafts number each claim and link it to the bill, vote or hearing it came from. Anything the AI could not find is marked for you to fill in or remove, and a draft cannot be saved until that is done.
  • Read-only. The AI cannot change data, send email, create reports or schedules, or act without a person starting it.
  • Usage limits. Each account has a monthly cap on AI Report Builder runs.
  • Labelled. AI features are marked as AI in the product.

Questions

For anything this article does not answer, or to have AI turned off before your staff sign in, email info@lobbygov.com.

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