Artificial Intelligence is not here to replace E&S professionals—it’s here to make our work smarter, faster, and more impactful. As someone actively integrating AI into E&S workflows, I’ve experimented with countless tools to streamline research, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance presentations without compromising accuracy or professional judgment.
If you’ve ever wondered how AI can support your E&S workflow, this cheat sheet outlines the tools I use weekly, if not daily, and what they help me accomplish.
🔎 AI for Research & Knowledge Management
Research is the backbone of impact assessments, but sifting through thousands of pages of legislation, policies, and reports can drain time and energy. These tools act as AI research assistants, helping me find and structure information faster:
📌 myESRA & privatESRA – My very own inventions for E&S
🛠 What It Does: AI-driven research assistants designed to access E&S specific informaiton efficiently and to secure, privacy-conscious information retrieval and document analysis.
✅ Why I Use It:
Extracts insights from large E&S reports and policies.
Provides access to policies, legislation and project documents.
❌ Limitations:
Won't write reports for you.
📌 ChatGPT – The Generalist Assistant
🛠 What It Does: A versatile AI that helps generate content, summarize reports, and answer technical questions.
✅ Why I Use It:
Great for structuring thoughts, summarizing articles, and brainstorming ideas.
Can suggest document outlines, write emails/letters and non-technical documents, knows some of the lender policies.
❌ Limitations:
Needs well-structured prompts for accurate outputs.
Doesn’t always cite sources—fact-checking is necessary.
📌 Perplexity – AI-Powered Search Engine with Citations
🛠 What It Does: Instantly retrieves answers from reliable sources with citations.
✅ Why I Use It:
Helps with research on technical topics and related policies.
Provides concise, referenced summaries.
❌ Limitations:
Not always great for deep, industry-specific insights.
📌 NotebookLM & SurfSense – AI Personal Knowledge Bases
🛠 What They Do: AI tools that integrate with your personal research notes, creating a searchable, structured knowledge hub.
✅ Why I Use Them:
Stores past research, allowing me to ask AI about my own notes instead of re-reading everything.
Ideal for preparing briefings and podcast outlines.
❌ Limitations:
Requires manual setup and data input for full effectiveness. Privacy is not guaranteed.
🎤 AI for Presentations & Reporting
Impact assessment isn’t just about finding data—it’s about presenting it effectively. These AI tools help structure, design, and enhance reports and presentations quickly and professionally.
📌 Gamma App & Beautiful.ai – AI-Powered Presentation Designers
🛠 What They Do: Transform dense reports into visually engaging presentations with AI-generated layouts.
✅ Why I Use Them:
Automates slide design—no more struggling with formatting!
Helps structure ESIA findings for stakeholder presentations.
❌ Limitations:
Some customisation limitations compared to manual PowerPoint design.
🎨 AI for Image & Video Creation
Visual content is becoming increasingly important for communicating impact. These tools help quickly create visualsfor reports, social media, and presentations.
📌 Recraft & DALL-E – AI-Generated Images
🛠 What They Do: Generate custom visuals and illustrations based on text prompts.
✅ Why I Use Them:
Creates concept images for social impact scenarios.
Helps design quick infographics for sustainability reports.
❌ Limitations:
Sometimes produces abstract or unrealistic images - adds a few extra toes..
📌 Sora & Midjourney – AI Video & Advanced Image Generation
🛠 What They Do: Generate high-quality videos and photorealistic AI imagery.
✅ Why I Use Them:
Great for creating visuls for impacts and simulated future scenarios.
❌ Limitations:
Subscription-based and requires experimentation for best results.
🎙️ AI for Transcription & Translation
Meetings, stakeholder interviews, and site assessments generate a lot of spoken content. These tools transcribe, summarize, and translate key information efficiently.
📌 Otter.ai – Real-Time Transcription
🛠 What It Does: Converts meetings, discussions, and lectures into text with speaker identification.
✅ Why I Use It:
Saves time on note-taking during meetings.
Easily creates transcripts for regulatory compliance.
❌ Limitations:
Not always 100% accurate—requires review.
💡 AI is Here—It’s Time to Use It Wisely
AI isn’t the future—it’s already shaping the way E&S professionals work. The real question is how we choose to engage with it.
I’ve seen firsthand how AI-assisted workflows improve efficiency, reduce errors, and free up time for more meaningful, high-value work.
🔹 Are you using AI in your E&S work? If so, I’d love to hear what tools you’ve found useful. Let’s shape the AI-driven future of impact assessment together. 🚀
Comments