Recent coverage has focused on councils testing assistive AI in frontline practice – most visibly Derby City Council's use of AI tools to draft recommendations within adult social care, alongside wider efforts to manage demand and savings. As Social Care Today's recent special report on AI and tech-enabled care highlights, "AI is here and it's being used more and more" across the sector. The scrutiny is right: people want clarity on accountability, safeguards, and how professional judgement is protected.

The ethical question isn't whether to use AI in adult social care, it's how to use it safely, transparently and under human leadership, so it strengthens practice, speeds access to help, and keeps responsibility exactly where it belongs: with qualified professionals.

Why AI in adult social care needs to address current practice challenges

Adult social care teams are working under sustained pressure. Manual workflows create variation, assessment quality can be uneven, and backlogs mean some people wait longer than anyone would like, often as needs become more complex. This is the baseline any assistive technology must improve.

How UK councils are using AI in social care successfully

Some councils are finding practical routes forward with AI in adult social care. Digital self-assessment tools are enabling earlier intervention. Councils using these approaches report reducing new support requests by around 25%, saving approximately 8,600 practitioner hours annually by helping people access the right support at the right time.

Cheshire East and Suffolk County Councils recently piloted System C's FormFlow, an AI assistant that captures audio and automatically populates assessments, forms and reviews. By reducing time on administrative tasks, AI tools for social care allow social workers to focus more on client interactions and personalised care.

The point isn't that AI is perfect; it's that today's status quo isn't acceptable. The task is to adopt AI tools in adult social care that are safe, transparent and human-led, improving consistency and speed while keeping professional accountability at the centre.

What ethical AI in adult social care actually looks like

The conversation about AI in social care needs to shift from "AI versus humans" to "what makes AI fit for purpose in social care." Not all AI tools are created equal, and the difference matters profoundly when we're talking about vulnerable people's lives.

Key principles for responsible AI in adult social care

Strong data governance is not optional. Any AI system handling social care data must adhere strictly to regulations like GDPR, with informed consent built in from the start. People need clear, accessible ways to understand what's happening with their data and to withdraw consent if they choose. Transparency about how AI systems operate, their limitations, and potential biases isn't just good practice – it's fundamental to trust.

Human-centred design means exactly that. AI tools for adult social care should be intuitive and accessible, designed with input from the people who will use them daily and the citizens they'll serve. This isn't about technology imposing its logic on care; it's about technology adapting to support person-centred practice.

Professional decision-making must remain professional. Professional decision-making must remain professional. AI in social care should enhance, not replace, practitioners’ expertise. As Luke Geoghegan, Head of Policy and Research at BASW, puts it in Social Care Today: “AI should enhance not replace critical thinking in our work.”

We should also distinguish formal from informal use. Transcription tools like Magic Notes are now formally licensed by many councils, while informal use (from search summaries to drafting) is widespread but less governed. Either way, practitioners must review outputs, watch for hallucinations or bias, and remain accountable for conclusions.

That’s the line we design to at Imosphere: human-centred design, explainability by default, proportionate data, and consent you can withdraw – while councils retain professional accountability.

The real cost of not using AI in adult social care

Choosing not to use assistive AI has consequences, too. When practitioners spend excessive time on administration rather than direct work, people wait longer for support. When notes and assessments are slow to complete, important actions can drift. And when budget decisions aren’t clearly evidenced, consistency is harder to maintain.

Councils pioneering ethical AI adoption in adult social care aren't doing it to cut corners. They’re addressing these practical gaps – freeing time, improving clarity, and supporting more timely, consistent decisions.

Getting it right: A framework for responsible AI implementation in social care

What separates responsible AI implementation in adult social care from cautionary tales?

Transparency at every level. Citizens and practitioners need to understand what AI is doing, how it reaches conclusions, and what its limitations are. Black box algorithms have no place in social care decision-making.

Continuous improvement through collaboration. The best tools evolve based on feedback from diverse stakeholders – practitioners, citizens, carers, advocacy groups. They don't claim perfection; they commit to ongoing learning.

Clear accountability structures. When things go wrong, there must be clear lines of responsibility and mechanisms for redress. AI doesn't absolve organisations of accountability; if anything, it requires more rigorous governance.

Critical assessment built in. As Geoghegan warns in the report, "AI makes mistakes. It hallucinates. It can learn from material that is biased or simply wrong." This means practitioners must critically assess what AI produces – which is precisely why keeping humans at the centre matters. The report emphasises that technology should empower citizens while maintaining the personal connection in care, not replace it.

How local authorities can deploy AI in adult social care responsibly

Across England, local authorities are grappling with how to deploy AI in adult social care responsibly. The councils that will succeed are those that approach AI not as a magic solution to budget pressures, but as a tool that – when built on ethical foundations and deployed thoughtfully – can help them deliver better, fairer, more sustainable care.

Questions to ask before implementing AI in social care

This means asking hard questions before implementation: Who designed this system? What data was it trained on? How do we ensure it doesn't perpetuate existing biases? What happens when it makes a recommendation that doesn't feel right? How do we measure whether it's actually improving outcomes?

Making the right choice about AI in adult social care

AI in adult social care is neither a panacea nor a threat. It's a tool, and like any tool, its value depends entirely on how we choose to use it.

The real ethical question isn't whether AI should play a role in adult social care. It's whether we're willing to demand the highest standards from the AI we deploy, to keep professional judgement at the centre of decision-making, and to measure success not by efficiency savings alone but by genuine improvements in people's lives.

Building AI tools that serve people, not replace them

At Imosphere, these aren't abstract principles – they're how we develop every product. Our AI guiding principles for adult social care embed transparency, human-centred design, and professional accountability into everything we build, ensuring technology serves practitioners and citizens, not the other way around.

The technology exists. The need is urgent. The question is whether we'll embrace AI in adult social care with the rigor, transparency, and human-centredness that vulnerable citizens deserve. Or will we let fear of imperfection keep us tied to a status quo that's failing too many people already.

The choice about AI in adult social care is ours to make. And it's one we need to make thoughtfully, collectively, and soon.

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