‘Hey Geraldine’: council turns veteran worker into AI chatbot – but is it ethical to digitally clone staff? – People Management
After organisation creates digital double of its employee, People Management asks whether this could stoke fears of AI replacement
4 August 2025
What do you do when a team member holds decades of irreplaceable knowledge – the kind you wish you could clone? At Peterborough City Council, the answer was to digitise it.
Geraldine Jinks, a therapy practitioner with 35 years of experience in senior social care, had long been the first point of contact for colleagues seeking practical advice. However, as requests for her guidance grew, Jinks found it increasingly challenging to assist her colleagues while also completing her own work.
To overcome this challenge, Peterborough City Council developed ‘Hey Geraldine’, an artificial intelligence chatbot built using Jinks’s responses, tone and professional insight. Jinks worked with the council’s technology-enabled care and therapy team to develop the AI tool.
Daniel Hulme: ‘We will all end up having digital twins’
How HR can embrace AI without losing its human core
Most people think AI will take human jobs – but not theirs, research reveals
The tool allows staff to ask contextual, practice-based questions and receive instant, tailored advice, as they would from the real Jinks.
“It was so exciting to develop this chatbot,” says Geraldine. “Staff within the organisation can now ask me questions whenever they want and receive a reply straightaway. It’s lovely that they’ve kept my name and some staff have told me that they thought they were chatting with me – I guess that’s because I’ve written all the answers.”
The council’s chatbot may be a novel way to preserve institutional knowledge, but it also raises difficult questions about the future of work. As AI knowledge systems become more prevalent, could tools like this end up replacing the very people they are based on?
Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR and employment law specialist firm Hamilton Nash, warns that even well-intentioned tools can have unintended consequences.
“While Hey Geraldine is a handy tool, it would be a shame if this AI doppelganger replaced the human it was modelled on. HR teams need to make sure that these tools improve the customer relationship and make the experience better. This should be about complementing people, not cloning them,” he says.
However, Claire Marsh, CEO of recruitment company Impellam Group North America, adds that while anxiety around job displacement is understandable, it is important to remember “AI is augmenting the workforce, not replacing it”.
“Digital agents can automate boring, repetitive tasks, while accelerating data processing and improving decision making across key business areas – from customer support to HR operations,” she explains.
It is essential for HR teams to embed ethical oversight from the outset when developing AI tools such as Hey Geraldine, according to Moore.
“Using the knowledge of a long-serving employee to create a useful tool like Hey Geraldine is a clever way to retain expertise, but there are ethical issues to consider,” he says.
“The employee would have to freely give ongoing consent for the project, and they would have to be well informed about what they are signing up to. It’s not just about signing a waiver, it’s about understanding how their voice, knowledge and even personality will be used, and having the right to withdraw this permission later.”
Sarah Hamilton-Gill, founder and managing director of Globus HR Consulting, also highlights ethical considerations. “Mentoring is about more than having the right answers. It’s about relationships, trust, conversation and, most importantly, context,” she explains.
HR leaders should leverage AI to enhance access to practical knowledge, but not as a replacement for meaningful human connection that mentoring provides, says Hamilton-Gill.
Martin Colyer, director of digital and AI at LACE Partners, adds that people teams must prioritise reasonable and responsible use of AI. He encourages HR professionals to teach employees to “embrace and work with digital twins”, rather than fear them, and to promote the ethical use of AI in the workplace.
However, the increasing use of AI in the workplace should not come at the expense of human interaction, warns Hamilton-Gill. Although she says the Hey Geraldine chatbot could be seen as a way to honour the legacy of a staff member, she adds: “Let’s not forget what made Jinks so valued – it wasn’t just what she knew, it was how she connected with others. AI can’t replace that.”
For more information, browse the CIPD’s resources on the use of AI in the workplace
The talent pipeline risks being upended as companies turn to AI to complete entry-level tasks. But there are some qualities technology cannot replace, says Jason Warner
Three quarters of BT survey respondents recognised the need to adapt, acknowledging tech transformation is ‘critical’ to business success
Opening this year’s CIPD Festival of Work, Hulme offered insight into how AI could enable HR professionals to achieve their true purpose
Summer slowdown: workers secretly log off early on Fridays, data shows
Unlocking the power of art in the workplace
Breaking down barriers: how Puig is making luxury more inclusive
