Open Editor's Digest for free
Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
UK ministers are trialling the use of generative AI to analyze responses to government consultations and write draft answers to parliamentary questions.
Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, will on Thursday unveil tools that the AI team at the heart of Whitehall is trialling with a view to rolling them out more widely across central departments and public services.
It forms part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's drive to boost Whitehall's productivity through technology, including artificial intelligence, when limited public finances limit ministers' ability to improve public services with more money.
The AI tools include using government-hosted versions of ChatGPT and a mix of open source AI models securely hosted internally to formulate initial responses to questions to ministers submitted by MPs and freedom of information requests.
Drafts will always be checked by a civil servant, and AI tools are programmed to ensure they cite their sources in all claims, so they can be verified.
The “red box” AI tool, in reference to how it might help members of government complete work in their ministerial red boxes, is able to source and condense information from official sources, such as Hansard, the Parliamentary Register, or the government. words.
At a press conference before his speech, Dowden said AI would not be appropriate in “new, controversial or highly politically sensitive areas” but could work well in helping with “routine” policy tasks.
A new AI tool is also being trialled to read, summarize and sort the response to public consultations, which typically require 25 government staff for three months to process.
Ministers launch about 700 consultations a year, and the latest state consultation on a smoking ban sparked thousands of pages of responses, the equivalent of 400 times the Brexit deal.
Speaking at Imperial College London, Dowden will say the government is keen “where these pilots have proof of concept, that we can scale them up as quickly as possible” to save money and improve public services.
The rapid pace of development means that opportunities are being identified on a daily basis and that AI is potentially a “silver bullet” to solve problems across government.
Dowden will also announce plans for an AI co-operation charter with the NHS. AI experiments are already being implemented in many areas of health, such as diagnosis, designing medications for individuals based on genetics, and tackling prescription errors and fraud. The AI prescription program alone is expected to save around £900 million if rolled out.
The Artificial Intelligence Cell in the Cabinet, known as the “AI Incubator” or “i. AI is set to double in size to 70 highly technical staff, compared to its target of 30 when it launched last November. Its budget is also set to rise from £5 million to £110 million, with funds reallocated from Other places in the Cabinet Office.
Recommended
Dowden said there must be “sustained and relentless pressure” to drive the use of AI in the public sector, adding: “We cannot have the private sector adopt it at a rapid pace and then fall behind.”
However, he also acknowledged that the tolerable “error rate” for AI technology in the public sector would be much lower than in commercial settings.
Laura Gilbert, senior analyst and director of data science at Downing Street, said the government had found plenty of “low-hanging fruit” where AI could bring significant efficiencies. While there was a general goal of a 3.55x return on investment in AI, she said: “Some of the early tools are like a 200x ROI.”
