A new package of AI tools nicknamed Humphrey is being made available to civil servants.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced the release, relating it to the plan to create a new digital centre of government to overhaul digital services.
The bundle of tools has been developed by the Incubator for AI (i.AI) unit in DSIT and named after a fictional Whitehall official in the BBC sitcom ‘Yes Minister’.
It includes Consult, which has been in development since early last year to help government take account of the views of thousands of people, civil society organisations and businesses that contribute to its consultations. It can analyse thousands of responses in a matter of hours and present its findings to policy makers and experts through interactive dashboards.
This contrasts with the existing approach under which the process is usually outsourced to consultants and analysts who can take months to consolidate responses.
The technology is currently being tested on data from past consultations.
Analysing parliamentary debates
Another tool in the package is Parlex, which helps policy makers search through and analyse decades of debate in the Houses of Parliament in order to better manage the passage of legislation.
Minutes is a secure AI transcription service for meetings, which produces customisable summaries in formats required by public servants. It is currently being used by central government departments in meetings with minister and is in trials with local authorities.
Redbox is a generative AI tool for interrogating and summarising thousands of documents that go into ministerial redboxes; and Lex helps officials research the law by providing and analysis and summarisation of laws for specific, complex issues.
The official launch of the tools follows last week’s announcement of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which includes a strong emphasis on increasing the use of the technology to improve public services.
It will be accompanied by the development of a framework for the public sector to find and buy AI solutions from the private sector.
