Short answer: Not to write it for you. UK regulators and professional bodies expect your CPD record, and your reflections above all, to be your own work. Some have now said so explicitly about AI. Using AI to check your grammar, or to ask you questions that prompt your own thinking, is generally acceptable. Having it write the reflection risks your registration.
What each regulator and professional body says
| Body | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GPhC (pharmacy) | Published guidance in April 2026: it isn't appropriate to use AI to create full revalidation submissions or to falsify information. Using AI to check grammar or review a record is allowed. Misuse can lead to fitness-to-practise action. | GPhC: The use of AI in revalidation (PDF) |
| RCGP (GP appraisal) | January 2026 guidance: AI "should not do the work of reflecting for you". It advises against AI-written reflections, but accepts AI giving you prompts for your own reflection. | RCGP: AI and appraisal |
| HCPC (15 health and care professions) | Your CPD profile must be your own work. Suspected plagiarism can be referred to fitness to practise. It has no specific AI guidance for CPD yet, but it treats AI-generated text in international registration applications as a concern. | HCPC CPD requirements · HCPC plagiarism checks |
| NMC (nurses, midwives) | Consulting (April 2026) on principles for the use of AI in revalidation. Reflective accounts must still be your own. | NMC news, April 2026 |
| Social Work England | Floated using AI to help review CPD. Most practitioners who responded to a Community Care poll opposed it. | Community Care |
Why it matters
A reflection is evidence that you thought about your learning and changed your practice. If an auditor asks you about it, you need to be able to talk about it. Text you didn't write is text you can't defend. Some regulators also treat third-party text in a CPD profile as plagiarism.
How to use AI safely
- Do: ask AI to question you. What did you learn? What will you do differently? Who benefits? Then write the answers yourself.
- Do: use a spelling and grammar check on what you've written.
- Do: check your entry against your regulator's standard before you submit.
- Don't: paste in a course description and ask for a reflection.
- Don't: ask AI to "improve" your reflection by rewriting it.
- Don't: put patient, client or colleague details into a public AI tool.
How RiverCPD's coach works
RiverCPD's AI coach was built around this rule from the start. It drafts the facts from your certificate (the title, date and provider) for you to check. It asks up to five questions about what you learned. When you ask, it checks your entry against your scheme's standard. It never writes your reflection, and it never rewrites what you've written.