UK Government Launches AI Chatbot Trial on Gov.UK to Assist Businesses

AI chatbot launches on Gov.UK to help business users - with mixed results

Initial test run of GPT-4o technology can help with regulations but 'cannot provide predictions or opinions' It speaks a bit of Welsh, can recite the building regulations, refuses to say whether Rishi Sunak is better than Keir Starmer and won't explain the UK corporation tax regime. The government is launching an artificial intelligence chatbot to help businesses chart the 700,000 page labyrinth that is the Gov.UK website and it looks like users can expect varied results. The experimental system will be tested by up to 15,000 business users before wider availability, possibly next year. Before you get started it warns: "The biggest limitation of AI tools like me is a problem known as 'hallucination'. This means we sometimes make up false information or facts but present them to you confidently." But the solution, it continues, is to check the links to the website it provides next to its answers, which it fires back in about seven seconds. Speaking about earlier trials in February, Paul Willmott, chair of the government's Central Digital and Data Office, told reporters that improvements were needed to iron out the "1% of hallucinations where the agent starts to get challenging, or abusive - or even seductive". At a test run, offered to reporters on Tuesday, government officials said any hallucinations were now more mundane, like a garbled weblink or an abbreviated answer. The chatbot, which uses OpenAI's GPT-4o technology, happily explained what regulations a hemp farmer would need to meet before planting a crop, but when asked about the chance of cannabis being legalised in the UK, replied: "I cannot provide predictions or opinions." It explained the regulations governing the cladding of high-rise buildings after the Grenfell Tower fire, but wouldn't answer what the public inquiry into that disaster told us about government failures. In one case, the chatbot briefly answered in Welsh. It wouldn't answer the question, "What is the corporation tax regime?", apparently because it didn't like the word "regime". But it was fluent on the incentives available for installing solar panels. The chatbot is currently not trained on all Gov.UK documents so content in ministers speeches and press releases appears to be missed. "Guardrails" have been added so the chatbot won't respond to queries that may prompt an illegal answer, share sensitive financial information or force it to take a political position. Working with the government's AI Safety Institute, the developers have also installed protections aimed at preventing hackers from leading the bot astray and making it say damaging things, but cannot rule out the risk altogether. Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science and technology, said the government wanted to "use AI to improve public services in a safe and reliable way, making sure the UK government leads by example in driving innovation forward". He continued: "Outdated and bulky government processes waste people's time too often, with the average adult in the UK spending the equivalent of a working week and a half dealing with public sector bureaucracy every year. We are going to change this by experimenting with emerging technology to find new ways to save people time and make their lives easier, as we are doing with Gov.UK chat."

UK government launches trial of generative AI chatbot on Gov.UK

(Alliance News) - The government has launched a new trial of an OpenAI-powered chatbot to help people find relevant information on the Gov.UK website. Gov.UK Chat is to be tested by up to 15,000 business users, and will offer advice on business rules and support, with the chatbot linked to 30 of Gov.UK's business pages, including guidance on tax, trade marks and setting up a business. The tool has been built using Microsoft Corp-backed ChatGPT maker OpenAI's GPT-4o model, which is designed to be able to converse more naturally, and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, or DSIT, said it should produce results for users that would otherwise be split across dozens of pages. DSIT said the trial will help determine the future plans around the technology, and confirmed it could ultimately be rolled out across the full government website of more than 700,000 pages, and currently attracts some 11 million users a week. DSIT is also leading a scheme to create a new "digital centre" of government, boosting technology adoption across the public sector. Science & Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: "Outdated and bulky government processes waste people's time too often, with the average adult in the UK spending the equivalent of a working week and a half dealing with public sector bureaucracy every year. "We are going to change this by experimenting with emerging technology to find new ways to save people time and make their lives easier, as we are doing with Gov.UK Chat. "With all new technology, it takes time to get it right so we're taking it through extensive trials with thousands of real users before it is used more widely. "This is an essential part of our ambition to use AI to improve public services in a safe and reliable way, making sure the UK Government leads by example in driving innovation forward." Generative AI technology has sparked the AI boom in the tech sector over the last two years, since the public release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022. Since then, many of the world's biggest technology firms, including Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Microsoft and Samsung Electronics Co have all begun rolling out their own AI assistance tools as they fight to appear as the market leader in the emerging sector. A small, private trial of the Gov.UK chatbot was conducted last year, with nearly 70% of the responses provided by the chatbot classed as helpful, but DSIT said the test also showed that more development was required to meet the high accuracy standards required for guidance on the government website. The government also confirmed that stringent safety measures and guardrails have been put in place around the chatbot, with experts on AI safety and safeguarding techniques from the UK's AI Safety Institute consulted on the chatbot's development. DSIT acknowledged that some inaccurate and erroneous results were likely during the trial, given the emerging nature of generative AI, but said the test would provide information and insights needed to further improve the tool. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

UK Government Expands AI Chatbot Trials to Support Small Businesses

Developed with GPT-4 technology, the chatbot aims to cut down on administrative tasks by centralising information. The UK government is expanding trials of its generative AI chatbot (gov.uk Chat, the government's experimental chatbot) to help small businesses navigate regulations and access guidance on gov.uk. The chatbot, now available to up to 15,000 business users, is linked from 30 key business pages, including resources for setting up businesses and trademark searches. Designed to streamline access to government information, it provides quick, personalised responses on topics like tax and business support, the UK Government said Tuesday. Also Read: Denmark Launches Sovereign AI Supercomputer Gefion with Nvidia Built by in-house data scientists, developers and designers using OpenAI's GPT-4 technology, the chatbot aims to reduce time spent on administrative tasks by consolidating relevant information from across gov.uk. UK's Science Secretary Peter Kyle described the initiative as part of a larger digital transformation, intending to make government processes faster and more efficient. "Outdated and bulky government processes waste people's time too often, with the average adult in the UK spending the equivalent of a working week and a half dealing with public sector bureaucracy every year," Kyle stated. "We are going to change this by experimenting with emerging technology to find new ways to save people time and make their lives easier, as we are doing with gov.uk Chat," he added. "This is an essential part of our ambition to use AI to improve public services in a safe and reliable way, making sure the UK government leads by example in driving innovation forward," Kyle concluded. Also Read: Saudi Arabia Partners with Google Cloud to Establish a Global AI Hub Following a successful initial trial last year, where nearly 70 percent of users found the AI's responses helpful, new updates have improved accuracy, accessibility, and safety measures with inputs from the AI Safety Institute. Strict guardrails now prevent responses on sensitive financial or political questions. "Since the last test, UK government experts have added "guardrails" that help gov.uk Chat detect which questions it should, and should not, answer," the UK government said. Results from this latest trial, expected later this year, will inform further developments. If successful, the chatbot could eventually be rolled out across all of gov.uk's 700,000 pages, potentially transforming how the UK's 11 million weekly gov.uk users interact with government services, the UK government said. A 2021 study estimated UK adults spend 3 billion hours yearly on government-related admin, highlighting the need for streamlined solutions like gov.uk Chat.

Talk to UK.gov website about tax and support via chatbot

Need to know how to set up a business? There's an (experimental) AI for that From the department of "this will go well" comes confirmation UK government is trialling an experimental chatbot with 15,000 business users, who can use it to ask questions about tax and available support. At present, the chatbot, which is a tool built using OpenAI's GPT-4 technology, has been linked to 30 gov.uk business pages. The theory is that users will be able to better navigate the information contained therein by inputting simple queries, such as "set up a business," and get "straightforward, personalized answers" rather than trawling through dozens of pages. The latest pilot follows an earlier one in which more than two-thirds of users found the chatbot helpful. Less than 15 percent disagreed. However, the first trial also showed that more testing and development were needed. And accuracy is important if users are going to rely on the results from a chatbot. Air Canada memorably came unstuck after its chatbot gave a customer incorrect information about a flight booking. The Register asked the UK's tax authority, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), how it would react if a citizen filed their taxes incorrectly after receiving less than accurate advice from an experimental chatbot. A spokesperson told us: "it is likely that the chatbot will still provide some inaccurate and erroneous results." The department then directed us to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) for further comment. DSIT has yet to respond. The chatbot project is experimental, although there are hopes it might be rolled out across the full UK government website, which is made up of 700,000 pages, if all goes well. Science Secretary Peter Kyle said in a canned statement, "With all new technology, it takes time to get it right so we're taking it through extensive trials with thousands of real users before it is used more widely." Lessons have already been learned, and guardrails implemented to help the gov.uk chatbot detect questions it should and should not answer, such as those related to sharing sensitive financial information or taking a political position. Tweaks were also implemented to improve answer accuracy and completeness, according to DSIT. The AI Safety Institute has also been consulted. It's all heady stuff. However, the health warning that the chatbot might (and probably will) dispense inaccurate or incomplete answers is important. This is, after all, experimental, and the onus remains on the user to ensure the proper rules are followed. ®