Voices from the Tackling Poverty Assembly: Using AI to Capture Every Conversation

One of the most innovative aspects of the Wrexham Poverty Action Collaboration (WPAC) Tackling Poverty Assembly wasn’t just what people talked about—it was how those conversations were captured.

As part of our Voices from the Tackling Poverty Assembly series, we’re pleased to share a short presentation from Lachlan Ayles, Programme Lead at Community Organisers, introducing Dembrane, the AI-powered digital listening platform used throughout the event.

With more than 70 participants taking part in facilitated discussions across several groups, capturing every contribution accurately could have required many hours of note-taking and post-event analysis.

Instead, Dembrane enabled participants to record discussion points using mobile devices. Artificial intelligence then analysed those contributions, identifying recurring themes, key ideas and suggested actions before presenting the findings back to the Assembly within minutes.

Lachlan describes Dembrane as a digital listening tool where AI helps “make sense of the conversation.”

He also explained the platform’s strong ethical framework, highlighting its GDPR compliance, EU-hosted infrastructure and automatic deletion of participant data after 30 days.

For Together Creating Communities (TCC) and the wider collaboration, the technology proved to be a significant asset. It captured a greater level of detail than traditional note-taking, provided immediate feedback to participants and greatly reduced the time required to produce a comprehensive record of the Assembly.

Most importantly, it helped ensure that every discussion contributed to the collective understanding of the issues facing communities across Wrexham.

The Assembly demonstrated that technology, when used thoughtfully and responsibly, can strengthen participation rather than replace it—supporting community conversations while leaving people firmly at the heart of the process.

🎥 Watch Lachlan Ayles explain how Dembrane supported the Assembly:

Further videos from the Tackling Poverty Assembly will be released over the coming weeks as we continue sharing the people, ideas and partnerships helping shape the future of community-led action in North East Wales.