Civil servants are considering using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT to help negotiators thrash out post-Brexit free trade deals.
IT engineers at the Department of Business and Trade are exploring developing AI bots that could assist with “identifying topics and trends in Free Trade Agreements (FTA) texts to assist negotiators”.
The proposal, one of more than two dozen pitched to the department’s data team, comes as Labour seeks to use AI tools to boost productivity across Whitehall.
In a blog post, the department’s AI data ethics lead, James McBride, and data ethics manager, Emma Taylor, wrote that the ideas were being “assessed for potential data protection and cyber security issues”.
The blog added that none of the department’s plans for AI would “involve automated decision-making about individuals”. Other proposals included using AI to generate meeting transcriptions, ministerial briefings or review job descriptions.
A Business Department spokesman said: “Our mission is to grow the economy through free trade deals with the fastest growing economies around the world.
“We have a process to ensure that AI is used safel, and our own cutting-edge techniques can quickly filter through large volumes of data, with experienced officials then making a final assessment of the information before it is used further. These services save time, improve quality and demonstrate the innovation and talent of our workforce.”
Mandarins are being urged to find ways to use AI bots to boost productivity and help cut costs across Whitehall. Sir Keir Starmer’s Government last month appointed Matt Clifford, a former AI adviser to Rishi Sunak, to develop an “AI Opportunities Action Plan”.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said at the time that Mr Clifford would help the Government use AI to “deliver the excellent public services that people deserve whilst saving taxpayers money”.
Mr Sunak was also a strong advocate for the technology and his government oversaw a trial of a digital tool called Redbox, which allows civil servants to ask questions about policy, speeches, briefings and internal papers. Redbox was developed using technology based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool.
Officials also attempted to develop a chatbot to handle questions about the Gov.uk website. The Government trialled the tool in a private pilot scheme for 1,000 people.
However, the tests provided mixed results, with just 65pc of users saying they were satisfied with the experience. The chatbot, which was powered by ChatGPT, also produced some bizarre responses, including answering questions in French.
Labour restructured the Government’s AI efforts after July’s election victory, moving a series of Cabinet Office programmes into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology under Peter Kyle.
Mr Clifford spent last week meeting AI executives and start-up entrepreneurs in No 10. Representatives from companies including $5.5bn Canadian start-up Cohere and British driverless car business Wayve were said to have attended.
An invitation to the meeting said the aim was to “boost responsible adoption of AI across all parts of the economy”.
AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are able to draft emails, summarise reports and write code. These tools have surged in popularity over the past year and both business and Government are excited about their potential.
However, the technology is still in its developmental stage and many AI chatbots suffer from bugs and can make up false information.
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