Artificial Intelligence in government: Sizzling progress or just empty talk?
The UK government is taking a proactive approach to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public services, aiming to make them more efficient, agile, and responsive. This comes at a time when ageing populations, economic turbulence, COVID-19 legacy problems, and the ongoing impacts of austerity are putting pressure on public services and the welfare state.
Key aspects of the government's plan include upskilling civil servants with AI knowledge and skills, establishing a Responsible AI Advisory Panel, recruiting leading AI experts for a "tour of duty" in government, promoting open-source AI integration, and reviewing the state of AI in government and public services.
The government's "One Big Thing" campaign for 2025 is focusing on AI, aiming to create a culture change by giving civil servants the right knowledge, tools, and practical experience to use AI confidently and responsibly. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is also forming an expert panel to advise senior officials and ministers on the responsible use of AI in the public sector.
Through a new $1 million fellowship funded by a Meta grant to the Alan Turing Institute, the UK government is recruiting leading AI experts for a 12-month "tour of duty" in government. These fellows will build open-source AI tools aimed at improving public services, enhancing productivity, speeding up processes, bolstering national security, and cutting AI costs across government.
The strategic roadmap encourages the use of open-source AI in public services by building institutional capacity, updating procurement frameworks, expanding upskilling programs, attracting AI talent with competitive career paths, and investing in AI ecosystem infrastructure.
However, the new government faces fiscal and resource constraints that threaten to restrict significant financial uplifts in spending on public services. The DSIT is tasked with reviewing the state of AI in government and public services, and with ongoing monitoring and evaluation of AI deployment.
The lack of monitoring and evaluation of AI within the public sector is compounded by the opaque market environment outside of it. Bringing in binding regulation on foundation model developers is an urgent first step towards providing the assurance public sector leaders need to procure, deploy, and use these models with confidence.
To effectively use AI in the public sector, it's important to ask three fundamental questions: Does it work? Does it work well enough for everyone? And does it work well in context? The government could consider giving DSIT stronger levers to ensure departmental buy-in, such as spend controls over the roll-out of AI in central departments.
The regulation of AI firms in the private sector is linked to the rollout of AI across the public sector. The new Government may need to consider giving the AI Safety Institute an expanded remit to support the testing and piloting of AI products across the public sector.
The use of AI in the public sector is still largely unexplored, with a lack of empirical evidence about how AI and other data-driven tools are being used in the public sector. This makes it difficult to understand where and how AI tools are being deployed and what is working across the public sector.
The UK's new administration is considering the use of AI in various sectors, including truancy, jobseeker support, and hospital scans analysis. Records should be kept up to date as the tool is updated, refined, or decommissioned to support understanding of AI tools and their deployment.
Local councils are under financial pressure, and strikes across key services continue to take place in response to low pay and poor conditions. It's crucial to ensure that the deployment of AI in the public sector is done in a way that benefits all, and not exacerbate existing inequalities.
Peter Kyle, the incoming Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, views technology as a means to save time and improve the interaction with public services. The government's focus on ethical, transparent, and responsible AI deployment ensures the technology genuinely improves public service delivery without unintended harm or inefficiency.
There is an opportunity for the new Government to shift public sector AI policy towards longer-term and more strategic ends, ensuring that the benefits of AI are felt by all, and not just a select few. The government's commitment to responsible AI use, transparency, and accountability is a step in the right direction towards achieving this goal.
[1] Gov.uk, AI for 2025,
- The UK government's plan to enhance public services via artificial intelligence (AI) includes upskilling civil servants in AI knowledge, establishing regulatory measures, and promoting open-source AI integration to ensure responsible and efficient AI technology use.
- The government's focus on the responsible application of AI in the public sector is significant, as it aims to create a culture change by providing civil servants with the right tools and expertise, and to regulate AI deployment for the benefit of all, without widening existing inequalities.
