Six AI Projects to Start With

Q: How does The Datalabs Agency use AI?

We run a design process built around people: designers with more than ten years of dashboard experience, and project managers who run every engagement. We use AI inside that process, for analysis, visualization and storytelling, to move faster. What the data says, and how it looks, stays with our team. We also teach your team to use AI in their own analysis, dashboard design and presentations.

Updated November 2026

AI consulting works best when it ends in something your team uses. These are the six AI projects The Datalabs Agency starts with most often. Each one names what you get, who it is for and where to begin. We design them, build them with AI and train your people to run them. The full list is on our AI consulting page.

1. AI-drafted reporting

The monthly pack gets a first-pass write-up from AI. A person checks every figure, and each number traces back to its source. This suits teams that spend days assembling the same report every month. See our AI consulting services.

2. An AI dashboard you can ask

Instead of hunting through filters, your team asks a question in plain words and gets the chart, the comparison and where the number came from. We design the screen so the answer is easy to read and easy to trust. Start with the AI dashboard and AI reporting work.

3. Explainable AI for decisions

Leaders and regulators want to know how an AI answer was reached. We design an interface that shows it, using our seven-point Explainers’ Checklist. Read What is Explainable AI (XAI)?, see the traffic management case study, or get the free workbook.

4. Customer-facing calculators and tools

A public tool can make a complex number clear to the people it affects. The Transurban Road Usage Calculator does this for road charges. We design the interface, build it and hand it over.

5. The Visual Storyteller

Our own tool turns a folder of pictures, numbers and maps into a finished story: slides, caption and a publishing note, drafted by AI and reviewed by a designer. It shows what a small AI build can do for a content team.

6. AI skills for your analysts

Workshops that teach your team to prompt AI, check what it gives back and explain it in their own reporting. See our Data and AI training workshops.

How to choose where to start

Pick the project closest to a decision your people make often and are poorly served on today. Agree how you will know it worked, build a working prototype first, and train the team that will run it. Describe your project and we will say which of the six fits.

Questions & Answers

AI projects

What is the best first AI project for a team?

Start with one decision your people make often and are poorly served on today, such as a weekly report that takes days to assemble or a number leaders do not trust. Agree how you will know it worked before anything is built, then build a working prototype first.

Who do we need to run an AI reporting project?

Three roles: a business owner who knows the decision, someone who designs and builds the tool, and someone who keeps it running. The Datalabs Agency builds the software, leads the strategy and trains your analysts to run it.

What does AI governance involve?

Mapping where humans review AI decisions, ranking the risks and drafting a transparency statement leaders can sign off. Our free Explainable AI workbook walks through three exercises.

Can AI build our dashboards and reports?

AI can draft commentary, generate first-pass charts and answer questions about your data, but it still needs a designer and a reviewer. The Datalabs Agency builds AI dashboards and AI reporting where a person checks the output.

How does The Datalabs Agency use AI?

We run a design process built around people: designers with more than ten years of dashboard experience, and project managers who run every engagement. We use AI inside that process, for analysis, visualization and storytelling, to move faster. What the data says, and how it looks, stays with our team. We also teach your team to use AI in their own analysis, dashboard design and presentations.

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