AI & Data Use
Summary: AI features are for Pro and Super subscribers, and each one runs when you use it. The data sent to OpenAI depends on the feature: some send only a task title, while the AI Assistant sends your task list, team context, timetable, marking and calendar (and your notes only if you switch that on), and the Report Assistant sends the pupil details you type in. The table below lists exactly what each feature sends. Before any of it leaves our server, people's names and email addresses are replaced with placeholders such as [Person 1], and put back into the answer on our server afterwards (see "Names are replaced before anything is sent" below). Notes page content is never sent to AI unless you switch on "Include my notes" in the AI Assistant. Your data is not used to train AI models. You can use the app fully without ever triggering an AI call. The school system you picked when you signed up (and can change in your profile) sets the wording AI features write back in, such as British "marking" against American "grading"; it changes the words used, never what is sent.
What AI we use
Teacher Task Manager uses the OpenAI API (GPT models) for its AI-powered features. Requests are made from our server-side API. Your OpenAI API key is never exposed to the browser.
Which features use AI
AI features are available on the Pro plan and the Super plan. Lesson Studio (slides, worksheets and teacher notes built from your lesson plans) and the specification library are part of the Super plan, which includes everything in Pro. There is one exception, listed in the table below: the Timetable calendar setup helper can be used on the Free plan, because the timetable itself is a Free feature. It runs when you reach the class-code step of the Live Sync settings with no format set yet, or when you press the button there, at most a few times a day, and you can switch it off in those settings. Once your settings are saved every calendar sync afterwards uses them without any AI call. Apart from that one helper, a Free-plan account makes no AI calls.
| Feature | What is sent to AI | What AI returns |
|---|---|---|
| AI Assistant (chat) | Your typed message and the conversation so far, plus context so the assistant can answer usefully: your task titles, descriptions, categories, priorities, due dates and completion status; your team names and descriptions; your team members, each as a placeholder rather than their name; the last five messages from each of your team chats; your school calendar dates; this week's timetable (day, times, class, subject, room and period for each lesson, and your free, PPA and duty periods); your Marking Tracker jobs (title, class, subject, status, dates and the job's notes); the titles of lesson plans and cover work for this week and next, and which of this week's remaining lessons have neither; your own calendar events for the next four weeks (title, type and dates; team calendar events are not sent); tasks you completed in the last seven days (title, category and date); and, only if you switch on "Include my notes" under the message box, your 20 most recently edited text notes (title and up to 600 characters of each). That switch is off until you turn it on, on each device | A conversational reply with workload advice, prioritisation suggestions, or task and marking job creation help |
| Plan My Day | Today's date and times, your chosen finish time, up to 20 pending task titles with due dates, priorities and categories, up to 10 marking job titles with class names and due dates, and today's timetable (class names and lesson times) | A structured plan for the rest of your working day |
| Timetable calendar setup helper (the one AI feature available on the Free plan) | The titles of the calendar events in the single week shown in your Live Sync settings, and nothing else: no event times, locations, guests, descriptions or attachments, and no events from any other week. Runs automatically when you reach the class-code step of the Live Sync settings with no class code format set yet (the step before says so, and a "Set this up with AI" switch turns it off), or when you press "Work it out for me" | Suggested class code examples and free-period wording, which fill in the settings form for you to check before you save. Anything it returns that does not appear word-for-word in your own event titles is discarded by our server before you see it. Once saved, your calendar is matched against those settings by the app itself, with no further AI calls |
| Google Chat task capture | The text of the single Chat message you addressed to the app: either a direct message you sent it, a message you quoted when mentioning it, or the text you typed after mentioning it. Nothing else from the conversation is read or sent. The app cannot read your Chat history, and it never sees a message unless you send it, quote it or mention the app in it | A suggested task title, due date, category and priority, saved as a draft for you to review. The original message text is never stored: it is used to draft the task and then discarded. Drafts are deleted automatically after seven days if you do not act on them |
| Free-Period Scheduling (Timetable) | Your free periods for the week and your pending tasks and marking jobs (titles, class names, due dates, priorities) | Suggestions for which item to work on in each free period |
| AI Follow-Up Suggestion | The completed task's title, category, and the first 300 characters of its description | A suggested next task title, category, and priority |
| Priority Auto-Scoring | Task title, category, and selected due date | A suggested priority level and a short reason |
| Smart Add (Pro) | The single line you type into Smart Add (first 500 characters), and only when the app cannot read it on your device on its own. Most lines never leave your device: Smart Add reads them locally first, and only a line the local rules cannot make sense of is sent. Nothing else about your account is sent with it, and today’s date in your time zone is added on our server so that words like “tomorrow” resolve to the right day. | Suggested task fields (title, description, due date, category, priority), filled into the form for you to check and change before the task is created |
| AI Expand Description | Task title and category | A short description and action checklist for the task |
| AI Subtask Suggestions | Task title and category | 3 to 5 suggested subtask titles as selectable chips |
| AI Task Extraction (Chat) | The text of the single chat message you run it on (first 500 characters) | Whether the message is actionable; if so, a suggested task title, category, and priority |
| Report Assistant | The report details you type are sent to OpenAI to draft the comment: gender selection, the subject, effort, attainment, behaviour, strengths and evidence, targets, predicted grade, position in class, free-text notes, and your chosen tone and length. When refining, the existing comment text is sent too. The pupil's name is not sent. Before anything leaves our server, the name you typed is replaced with a neutral placeholder (including where it appears in your notes or the comment being refined, when it matches the name field), and the real name is put back into the finished comment on our server. Please still use first names or initials only, and avoid safeguarding or medical details; the app asks for this on the Reports page. | A drafted pupil report comment, or a refined version of an existing comment. It is written in the English of the school system you picked when you signed up: British English and UK school wording by default, American English and US school wording if you chose the United States. Comments are generated on request and are not stored on our servers; comments you choose to save to your comment bank are stored privately in your account until you delete them or your account. |
| Lesson Planner | The subject, class name, year group, topic, lesson length, any constraints, and a short summary of your previous saved lesson for that class. On the Super plan, also the specification points you ticked for the lesson (each point's code and wording, from your specification library), and for a lesson with no specification, the text you give under "What this lesson should cover", typed or read from a PDF. A PDF is read in your browser: the file itself is never sent, only the text read from it | A structured lesson plan in five phases (recall and connect, new information, guided practice, independent investigation, review of learning) with suggested minutes and checks for understanding, plus objectives, adaptations, assessment, resources and homework |
| Cover Work generator | The subject and class name from the timetable slot you are covering, the year group, difficulty and lesson length, your chosen mode (continue the scheme, or a generic standalone activity), any topic or instructions you type, and the free-text spec/syllabus context you paste in or provide (for example an exam-board topic list, or a specification document you already have, such as a PDF you upload). An uploaded PDF is read in your browser only: the file itself is never sent to our servers, only the text extracted from it, exactly as if you had pasted that text yourself. This spec context is your own text and is not verified against any live or external source. No pupil names or pupil records are sent. Please keep pupil-identifying details out of the topic and spec-context fields. | A self-contained cover lesson: a title, the pupil activity, resources needed, an answers/mark scheme section (an answer key, if you chose the United States), and delivery notes for the supervisor. It is fully editable and saved privately in your account until you delete it or your account. |
| Specification library (Super) | The text of the pages you pick from your own copy of an exam specification (up to 8 pages at a time), laid out in the specification's table columns, and the name you give the specification. Every column on those pages is sent, including guidance, skills and practical columns, so the AI can tell them apart from the content. The PDF is read in your browser: the file itself never reaches our servers or OpenAI, only the text of the pages you picked | The specification points on those pages, each with its printed code, the headings it sits under and its wording. Our server checks every point against your pages and drops any whose wording does not appear there word for word, and a code is kept only if it is printed on the page. You review the points and choose which to keep before they are saved, privately in your account |
| Lesson Studio: slides, worksheets and teacher notes (Super) | Your saved lesson plan for that lesson: its title, objectives, the text and minutes of each of the five phases, differentiation and homework, with the subject, class name, year group and lesson length. On the Super plan, also the specification points you ticked for the lesson (each point's code and wording). Each of the three is a separate request that sends the same thing | Slides: a slide deck with checks for understanding, answers and speaker notes. Worksheet: a worksheet in three levels (support, core and stretch) with a mark scheme. Teacher notes: an overview, what happens in each phase with questions to ask and their answers, key vocabulary, common misconceptions, and support and stretch notes. Any specification code the AI gives that is not one you ticked is removed, and the phase timings and specification points in the teacher notes are taken from your plan, not from the AI. All three are fully editable and saved privately in your account, encrypted |
| Lesson Studio: rewrite a slide | Everything the slides request sends (above), plus the outline of your deck (each slide's phase and heading), the whole of the slide being rewritten as it is now, including its speaker notes, and the request you type for it (up to 400 characters), if any | That one slide, rewritten, in place of the old one in your editor. Undo puts the old one back |
| Notes page | Nothing, unless you switch on "Include my notes" in the AI Assistant, which is off until you turn it on. When it is on, your 20 most recently edited text notes (title and up to 600 characters each, with names replaced) are sent with each AI Assistant message. Drawing notes and note images are never sent | No AI output is generated from notes on the Notes page itself |
What data is NOT sent to AI
- Passwords or authentication tokens
- Notes page content, unless you switch on "Include my notes" in the AI Assistant; note images and drawings are never sent
- Chat images and file attachments
- Outlook/Microsoft and Google Calendar connection tokens; calendar sync is for Pro and Super subscribers but does not itself trigger an AI call
- Payment information
- Any data from Free-plan accounts, other than the calendar event titles the Timetable Live Sync setup helper sends for a Free user (see the table above)
Names are replaced before anything is sent
Every AI feature, including the AI Assistant, the Report Assistant, email and Google Chat task capture and the Timetable setup helper, sends its text through the same step on our server first. People's names in that text are swapped for placeholders such as [Person 1], and email addresses for placeholders such as [Email 1]. OpenAI works with the placeholders and never sees the names. When its answer comes back, our server puts the real names back in before anything reaches your browser, so what you read is unchanged. The list of which name is which placeholder stays on our server for that one request and is never stored.
Names are found in three ways: your own name and your team members' names, which the app already knows; a title followed by a surname, such as "Mrs Patel", or an initial and a surname, such as "J Smith"; and names typed into free text, found by a set of rules that treat a capitalised word that is not ordinary English as a name, alongside lists of more than 9,000 given names. This is automatic and it is not perfect. A name that is also an ordinary English word can be missed at the start of a sentence (for example "Will" in "Will needs extra time"), and an unusual word can occasionally be treated as a name, which only means it is replaced and then put back. Lesson and cover topics and the spec or syllabus text you provide are the one exception to the rules: in those fields only your own and your team members' names are replaced, because the subject of a lesson ("Henry VIII", "Macbeth") is what the AI needs to plan it. Please keep pupil names out of those fields. The same exception covers a lesson plan's title, subject, class name and year group, and specification wording, including the pages you split into points. The text of a lesson plan itself, a slide's content and headings, and any request you type for a slide get every rule above.
Pupil information
Most AI features work on your own tasks and timetable rather than pupil records. Some places can involve pupils, and it is important to be clear about them:
- Report Assistant: the report details you type are sent to OpenAI to draft the comment, but the pupil's name is not: it is swapped for a placeholder on our server before the request is made and swapped back once the comment returns. Mentions of the same name inside your other report fields are replaced too, and so are other people's names in those fields (a friend, a parent), as described above. The Reports page still asks you to use first names or initials only and to leave out sensitive details such as safeguarding or medical information. Comments you save to your comment bank stay private to your account.
- AI Assistant and task features: these send the text of your task titles and descriptions, with names replaced by placeholders as described above. Because that detection is automatic and can miss a name, the safest course is still to use initials for pupils in tasks you plan to use AI features on.
- Lesson Studio: slides, worksheets and teacher notes are built from the text of your lesson plan, so a pupil named in a plan (in a differentiation note, say) is sent with names replaced as described above. Because that can miss a name, please keep pupil names out of lesson plans you build from.
- Google Chat task capture: the message you hand the app is sent to OpenAI to draft the task, with names and email addresses replaced by placeholders as described above; a name the rules miss would still be included. The app checks the message for things that look like personal information and, when it finds them, will not offer to save the draft without you opening it and checking the fields first. The message text itself is never stored, and you review every draft before it becomes a task.
In all cases the data is sent to generate your response and nothing else. It is not used for advertising, profiling, or model training.
Data retention by OpenAI
Under our API agreement with OpenAI, data submitted via the API is not used to train or improve OpenAI's models. API inputs and outputs may be retained by OpenAI for a limited period for abuse monitoring. For full details, see OpenAI's API Data Usage Policies.
Local processing (no AI call)
Several features that look like AI run entirely on your device or our own servers, with nothing sent to OpenAI:
- The dashboard morning briefing is built locally from your task counts and timetable
- The deadline conflict check when picking a due date compares your tasks and school calendar locally
- Voice dictation in Quick Add, on both phone and computer, uses your browser's own speech recognition, the same one behind the microphone key on your phone keyboard. We never receive, record or store the audio, and none of it reaches OpenAI. Depending on your device, your browser may send the audio to Apple or Google to turn it into text; see our Privacy Policy for that. The text it produces is then read by the same local keyword rules as anything you type
Smart Add is partly local: it reads your quick-add line on your device first, using teacher-specific keyword recognition, and on the Free plan it goes no further. Only a line those local rules cannot read is sent to OpenAI, and only for Pro and Super subscribers, as described in the table above.
Your controls
- AI features are for Pro and Super subscribers, apart from the Timetable calendar setup helper described above; downgrading to Free removes every AI call except that one button, which you never have to press
- Most AI features run only when you ask. Two run automatically for Pro and Super users: Priority Auto-Scoring suggests a priority while you type a new task title, and the Follow-Up Suggestion appears when you complete a task. Nothing runs while the app is closed
- AI Follow-Up Suggestions can be turned off with the toggle on the Tasks page, skipped with the "Skip" button, or left to auto-dismiss after 15 seconds
- Priority Auto-Scoring can be dismissed; manually selecting a priority prevents further AI suggestions for that task
- You can delete your account at any time; all stored task data is removed
No automated decision-making
AI suggestions in Teacher Task Manager are advisory only. No AI output automatically changes your tasks, priorities, or data without your explicit confirmation. You are always in control.
In accordance with UK GDPR Article 22, Teacher Task Manager does not carry out solely automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you. Every AI suggestion requires a deliberate action from you to be applied. You may always ignore, edit, or dismiss any AI output.
For full details of how your personal data is handled, your data rights, and how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you have a concern, see our Privacy Policy.
Questions
If you have questions about how AI is used in Teacher Task Manager, please contact:
Developer: teacheradmin.com
Email: service@teacheradmin.com