FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is Compass?

Compass is a purpose-built AI-supported coaching and navigation tool. It is designed to help people understand situations more clearly, make considered decisions, identify meaningful next steps and maintain progress over time. Compass is not designed to provide every possible answer. Its purpose is to help users navigate.

How is Compass different from general AI such as ChatGPT?

General-purpose AI can help with a very wide range of tasks, including answering questions, writing, research and brainstorming. Compass has a narrower and more deliberate purpose. It is specifically designed and governed around coaching and navigation, with defined boundaries for how it supports users and when another form of support may be more appropriate. The difference is therefore not simply access to AI. It is the purpose, structure and boundaries around how Compass is designed to support the user.

When should I use Compass?

Compass can be useful when you need to think clearly about a situation, make a decision, work through uncertainty or decide what to do next.

You might use Compass when:

something is bothering you, but you are not yet sure what the real issue is;
you are facing a difficult decision or change;
you want to prepare for an important conversation;
you feel stuck and need help finding a meaningful next step;
you want to reflect on something that happened without becoming caught in endless rumination;
you are working toward a personal goal or significant life change;
you want to maintain progress after coaching, rehabilitation, therapy or another period of professional support;
you notice yourself slipping back into old habits or patterns and want to reconsider your direction;
you want a structured way to think before deciding whether you need professional support.

Compass is not only for problems. It can also be used for development, preparation, reflection and maintaining progress when things are going well.

The aim is to help you understand where you are, what matters now and what the next meaningful direction may be.

Who is Compass for?

Compass is designed for both personal and professional use, with different expectations and boundaries for each.

Personal use

The Personal route is for individuals who want help navigating situations in their own lives. This may include decisions, uncertainty, change, relationships, work situations, personal development, maintaining progress or preparing for an important next step. Compass can help the user reflect, gain perspective and move toward action while remaining within its defined boundaries.

Professional use

The Professional route is for people who want to use Compass as a support tool within their professional work. This may include preparation, reflection, scenario exploration, decision support or thinking through complex situations. Compass does not replace professional qualifications, organisational procedures, supervision or professional responsibility. The professional remains responsible for their own judgment, decisions and actions.

Different purpose, different responsibility

Personal users use Compass primarily to navigate their own situations. Professional users may use Compass to support their thinking in a professional context, but responsibility remains with the professional. In both cases, Compass is designed to support human judgment rather than take it over.

Does Compass replace a coach, psychologist, therapist or other professional?

No. Professional expertise is valuable, and Compass is not intended to replace it. However, not every difficult situation necessarily needs to begin with specialist intervention. Compass can help users first understand what is happening, clarify what matters, consider their options and determine an appropriate next step. When professional expertise is needed, Compass should support the user in recognising that and seeking the appropriate help. Compass can therefore be useful before, alongside and after professional support.

Can Compass help me maintain progress after professional support or a major life change?

Yes. Professional support is often time-limited, while maintaining progress happens in everyday life. Compass can help users stay connected to goals and decisions, reflect on progress and setbacks, maintain useful routines and recognise when they may be starting to drift from the direction they intended. This may be useful after coaching, rehabilitation, therapy or another structured intervention, as well as when maintaining an important life-changing decision. Compass does not provide medical treatment, prescribe rehabilitation or override professional advice. The aim is to strengthen the user’s ability to navigate and maintain progress for themselves — not to create dependence on Compass.

When should I not use Compass, and what can Compass not do?

Compass is designed to support reflection, navigation, decision-making and maintaining progress.

It is not the right tool for every situation and is not designed to replace specialist professional judgment.

Compass should not be relied on as a substitute for emergency services, medical care, mental-health treatment, legal advice or other specialist professional support when those are needed.

Compass cannot provide emergency assistance, diagnose medical or mental-health conditions, prescribe treatment, provide legal representation, make employment decisions on behalf of an organisation, or take responsibility for professional decisions that belong to a qualified person, organisation or authority.

Compass may help you think through a situation, prepare for a conversation, organise what you know, identify questions to ask and consider possible next steps.

For professional users, Compass should support thinking and preparation — not replace professional qualifications, supervision, organisational procedures, accountability or judgment.

The professional remains responsible for decisions and actions.

If a situation involves immediate danger, serious safeguarding concerns, a medical or mental-health emergency, or another matter requiring specialist intervention, the appropriate professional or emergency service should be contacted.

Compass can help you navigate many situations.

It should also help you recognise when Compass is no longer the right level of support.

Compass is a tool to support human judgment, not replace it.

What happens to what I share with Compass?

User messages are processed by an AI provider to generate Compass responses. In the current controlled pilot, conversation continuity is stored in your browser. A conversation can be kept for up to seven days, and the Coach provides controls to start a new conversation or delete the stored conversation. You should avoid sharing unnecessary identifying, medical, legal, financial or other highly sensitive information, especially information about clients or other people. See the Privacy page for the current pilot privacy wording.

What is Compass trying to achieve?

Compass is designed to help people navigate more effectively.

The aim is not to provide every answer, remove every difficulty or make decisions on behalf of the user. The aim is to strengthen the user’s ability to understand situations, make considered choices, take meaningful action and maintain progress over time.

Sometimes that may mean helping someone deal with an everyday challenge without unnecessary escalation. Sometimes it may mean supporting someone while they are already receiving professional help. Sometimes it may mean helping them maintain progress after that professional support has ended. And sometimes the right outcome is recognising that another level of support is needed.

Compass is therefore designed around capability rather than dependence.

A successful interaction should leave the user better able to understand where they are, what matters and what they can do next.

Ultimately, Compass is intended to support people in becoming more capable of navigating for themselves.

Current pilot privacy details are available on the Privacy page.