Most of The GAiGE runs on pulses: short surveys that repeat on a schedule, so you can watch a number move. The AI State of Play is a survey of everyone, asked once. It finds out which AI tools people use and on which accounts, what information goes into them, and the opportunities people see. It comes with every plan, and you run it from Governance set-up, where it's the step that starts the governance journey.
Sending The AI State of PlayLink to this section
- Open Governance set-up, under Governance in the menu, and go to The AI State of Play's step.
- Choose Who is asked: Everyone, or Chosen groups. A small group first is fine; you can add the rest later.
- Check Closes, the closing date. On a trial it closes after 10 days (14 otherwise), or sooner once 85% have answered, and you can change the date before you send it.
- Under The message, read the email each person gets. You can change its subject and message; the parts in grey, such as each person's link and the closing date, are filled in for each person.
- Press Send. Each person gets their own link as soon as you send.
Each person gets one email: your message, with their own link. It takes under 10 minutes, and they answer in their own time, on the web or in the browser extension.
Before you send it, Preview the questions on the same step shows every question, read-only.
Because people may be identified from The AI State of Play, an organisation with a works council, or staff representatives it consults about how staff information is used, may need to consult them before sending it.
To widen it later, use Add people and send. It sends to the new people only, and reopens The AI State of Play if it has closed.
How people are remindedLink to this section
By email. Anyone who hasn't answered gets their link again on day 4, day 9 and the day before it closes, on your organisation's working days, so a reminder never arrives at the weekend. It's at most three emails each, and they stop the moment someone answers, when it closes, or once enough people have answered to close it. These reminders are on by default. To send reminders yourself instead, switch off Automatic reminders on The AI State of Play's step in Governance set-up, then use Send a reminder there when you need one. A person's own reminder email setting doesn't stop them: The AI State of Play is something your organisation has chosen to ask everyone. Separately, anyone with something waiting gets a reminder email at most once a week, which they can turn off in their own Settings, under Account.
In the extension, The AI State of Play comes back more often as the closing date gets nearer:
| Time left | How often it comes back |
|---|---|
| More than 10 days | About weekly |
| 10 days to 3 days | About every three days |
| The last 3 days | Daily |
It never comes more than once a day. Unprompted reminders keep to your organisation's working hours; someone who opens the extension and asks for it gets it whenever they like.
What people see, and what they can doLink to this section
Someone receiving The AI State of Play answers it from the link in their email, in the extension or in their AI Adoption Portal. Before the first question they're told that it's asked once and roughly how long it takes, and when you need it by, and at the foot of the first screen, in small type, that they may be identified from this survey. The AI State of Play is always identifiable: there is no anonymous version of it.
People you've added who haven't set up an account yet get their own link too. Its first screen shows who it was sent to and the address, with Not for me for someone it reached by mistake. Nothing is recorded until they send their answers. If someone chooses Not for me, People shows it against them as Link refused, with Send again once you've checked their address.
They can always stop. Every screen offers a way out: in the extension, snooze for a few hours, Later, or close it; in their AI Adoption Portal, Leave. If someone closes it part-way through, it goes back into the queue rather than being used up, and it tells them so.
A question that needs an answer has no Skip this one button. Optional questions have one, and the open questions are always optional, so nobody is made to write about their week.
Once someone answers, they're finished with it, even if they reinstall their browser or move to a new laptop: the record of who has answered is kept with us, not on their machine.
What you can see while it runsLink to this section
- On Governance set-up and the Dashboard, how many have answered, such as "34 of 60 answered", and the closing date.
- By group, how far along each team is. Every group it reaches shows how many have answered, however few. Someone can be in more than one group, or in none, so the group rows won't always add up to the headline, and the page says so.
Owners and Admins see everyone's answers with their name, so they can see who has answered. Group and Senior Leaders see the answers of people in the groups they lead, with their names, as on any identifiable pulse. Every AI tool anyone names reaches the AI tools register, however few people have answered, and its entry shows Owners and Admins who reported it.
While it's open, Edit on its step opens it in the builder, where you can change its closing date, the share of people answering that closes it, and who it goes to.
Closing itLink to this section
It closes in one of three ways.
- Automatically at the target. Once the share of people who've answered reaches the target, it closes that night.
- Automatically on the date. Once the closing date passes, it closes that night.
- By hand. Close The AI State of Play, on its step in Governance set-up, closes it straight away.
Once it's closed, nobody else is asked and its answers stay readable in Reports. Reopen, on the same step, starts the asking again from the original opening date, so the report still covers the whole run, and anyone who already answered isn't asked twice. If the closing date has passed, it moves on by the default length. Until it closes again, Agree the organisation-wide policies in Governance set-up isn't done. Closing it again includes the new answers.
What you get from The AI State of PlayLink to this section
When it closes:
- The AI State of Play results, in Reports: which AI tools people use and on which accounts, what information is entered into them, and the opportunities people see, with Download PDF.
- Your register grows. Tools people name are added under Governance → AI tools, marked as reported, each waiting for a decision.
- Proposed policies. The answers are the basis for the policies Governance set-up proposes, and a starter policy you set aside can come back with the answers behind it.
Then continue with Governance set-up: What The AI State of Play found, Decide on each tool, Agree the organisation-wide policies, Check and publish Our AI policies and Brief the team. The first brief after The AI State of Play closes opens by thanking people for their answers. See Quick start: your first session.
The Discovery pulsesLink to this section
On Pro, four one-off Discovery pulses used to go further than The AI State of Play. They were retired on 19 October 2026, because The AI State of Play covers the same questions. If you added one, it stays on Measurement → Pulse library with its answers; see the four Discovery pulses.
If you'd like someone to work through the results with the leadership team, see Getting outside help.
Something missing or out of date here? Tell us.