Creating and Using Custom GPTs: A Guide for Parliamentary Offices

Feb 3

Introduction

Members of Parliament and their offices manage a vast amount of institutional knowledge—ranging from past statements, constituent service procedures, policy memos, and oversight records to agency correspondence and budget documents. A customized GPT built through an institution-approved platform (such as ChatGPT+) can serve as a secure, AI-powered research assistant tailored to that office’s unique needs, drawing exclusively from a curated set of internal resources.

For example, new staff members can use a Custom GPT to quickly find information about an MP’s past positions, press releases, or hearing remarks. Legislative staff can use it to support oversight work by querying past agency letters or guidance documents. Constituent services staff can reference standard operating procedures or training manuals without searching through shared drives.

By grounding the GPT in a trusted resource bank and limiting it from pulling information from outside sources, offices can ensure relevance, accuracy, and security—streamlining operations and supporting more effective governance.

What is a Custom GPT?

A Custom GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a customized version of an Large Language Model (LLM) that can be tailored by a user to perform specific tasks, follow custom instructions, and draw information from a select set of uploaded documents. Unlike a standard, commercially available version of an LLM like ChatGPT, a Custom GPT can be used to respond only using the documents provided to it, making it a powerful tool for detail-oriented research, internal knowledge management, oversight, staff onboarding, and more.

Many commercially available LLMs offer paid subscribers the ability to build these tools. However, each model refers to these tools by different names. For OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they are called CustomGPTs. For Anthropic’s Claude, they are called Projects. For Google’s Gemini, they are called Gems. And, for Microsoft Copilot, they are called Agents.

Note: This guide uses ChatGPT’s CustomGPTs as the model to showcase the workflow; however, the process is similar regardless of which institution-approved LLM you are using.

Before you start

Review your institution’s official guidance regarding the use of GenAI tools. If ChatGPT is among the list of approved tools, log onto your office’s ChatGPT+ subscription.
Collect all relevant documents you want your GPT to use, ideally in .pdf, .docx, or .txt format, and save these as a folder on your desktop where they are easy to navigate to.

Building a Custom GPT

Step 1: Go to chatgpt.com

Navigate to chatgpt.com to begin creating your custom GPT.

Step 2: Log in with your ChatGPT+ account

Make sure you're logged in with a ChatGPT+ account to access GPT creation features.

Step 3: Click the "Explore GPTs" button in the top-left sidebar

Find and click the "Explore GPTs" button located in the top-left sidebar of the interface.

Step 4: Click "Create a GPT" at the top-right corner

From here, you will be brought into a chat-based GPT builder that will ask:

"What would you like to make?"

Respond with something like:

"I want to build a GPT that answers questions using only a specific set of internal policy documents and does not rely on general internet knowledge."

Tip: You can go into more detail - the more context you're able to provide the GPT, the better it will be designed to fit your needs. For example, if you were setting up a GPT to assist your MP in preparation for an oversight hearing, you can respond with:

"I want to build a GPT to support a Member of Parliament in [country] who is preparing for an upcoming post-legislative scrutiny hearing. I want the GPT to only answer questions using the documents that I provide: the witness testimonies, policy memos, briefing manual, scrutiny investigative report, and news articles. I do not want the GPT to rely on general internet knowledge."

Step 5: Upload Your Resource Bank

Once the GPT builder understands your goal, it will prompt you to add "Files":

Click "Configure" at the top-right of the builder screen.
Scroll down to the "Knowledge" section.
Click "Upload Files" to upload your PDF, DOCX, or TXT documents.
- You can upload up to 20 files, totaling 512MB.
- Tip #1: It is important to name files clearly (e.g., Oversight_Investigative_Report_June_2025.pdf).
- Tip #2: Avoid scanned image-based PDFs unless they're OCR-enabled (i.e., the text is selectable).
After upload, your GPT will be able to read and reference these files.

Step 6: Set your GPT's Instructions

GPTs are extremely customizable so it's important to be intentional about how you would like the one you're creating to review information, organize content, and present it back to you and other users.

Restricting GPT Responses to Only Source From the Uploaded Files

In the "Instructions" box (under Configure > Instructions), set the behavior with this suggested guidance:

"You are a research assistant for an elected official of [country's] Parliament. Use only the documents uploaded to you to answer questions. Do not use outside knowledge, and do not guess. If a question cannot be answered based on the documents provided, respond with: 'I do not have that information based on the current resource bank.' If the answer is not found in the provided documents, reply: 'I don't have information about that based on the documents provided.'"

Instruct the GPT on Personality "Tone"

In the "Instructions" box (under Configure > Instructions), set the tone of your GPT's responses with this suggested guidance:

"Respond as a professional and neutral research assistant for an elected official of [country's] Parliament."

Tip: You can also set additional tone specifications, such as levels of formality or brevity.

Step 7: Name and Publish Your Custom GPT

Naming: As you and your team create Custom GPTs, it's important to name them for easy organization and reference.
Publishing: Choose whether you want to keep your Custom GPT private (default) or share it with others on your team.
Click "Publish."

Best Practices for Parliamentary Use

Follow all institutional guidance and review it often for updates.
Redact all sensitive information before uploading documents.
Use version control to ensure the resources are up to date. Note the upload date/version of each document. Your GPT provided information will only be as recent and accurate as the documents it has been provided to pull from.
Train your team on how to use and interpret answers from a Custom GPT. Know that all GPTs have the potential to hallucinate and that you and your team are ultimately responsible for the information and content that you use. AI-generated content should undergo human review to be fact-checked, and edited to match your office’s opinions and voice.

Tip: When you’ve first created a Custom GPT, test its accuracy with sample queries to ensure it doesn't hallucinate or pull from general knowledge.

This guide was developed by POPVOX Foundation to support parliamentarians and their staff in using AI tools responsibly and effectively.

About POPVOX Foundation

POPVOX Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan nonprofit organization with a mission to help democratic institutions keep pace with a rapidly changing world. Through publications, events, prototypes, and technical assistance, the organization helps public servants and elected officials better serve their constituents and make better policy.

Questions or feedback? Contact us at info@popvox.org

Aubrey Wilson