HM Treasury has created a new panel of outside expertise to aid the adoption of artificial intelligence in departments and the wider public sector.
The group, which includes global technology giant IBM, London-based firm Faculty AI, and think tank the Tony Blair Institute, will undertake a range of work aimed at boosting efficiency and productivity.
One strand will be advising on how existing uses of AI within government departments can be scaled more consistently across organisations.
HM Treasury said the experts will test whether lessons from pilots and early deployments are being shared effectively across Whitehall. It said that while evidence has been built on what works and the scaling of successful cases, “the challenge now lies in moving quickly to changed ways of working that can be rolled out at pace”.
Other areas of work will see the group examine individual public sector programmes to harness AI and provide recommendations on the government’s overall approach to adoption.
HM Treasury said the group’s work would combine with input from academia and the wider public sector and feed into efficiency processes ahead of the next spending review.
Chief secretary to the Treasury James Murray said the group had vital insight and challenge to offer departments and public sector bodies in relation to their AI plans.
“These people are exactly who can help us create change across the public sector – giving us the hard truths on our approach to AI and advising where we need to prioritise our investment to support real efficiencies,” he said.
Murray chaired an initial meeting of the group yesterday. It is understood to have included IBM UK and Ireland chair Nicola Hodson, Faculty AI director of public services Paul Maltby, and Tony Blair Institute senior director of AI Laura Gilbert.
A July 2024 paper from the Tony Blair Institute suggested that AI had the potential to save the UK public sector tens of billions of pounds a year over the course of a decade. However, it also indicated that one-in-five public sector jobs could go as a result – some 1.15m posts.
HM Treasury said its ambitions to hone the public sector’s use of AI would build on departmental efficiency delivery plans published last June.
Across the three years of the current Spending Review period, which runs to 2028‑29, departments have identified total annual efficiency gains of £13.8bn, with a significant share expected to come from digital transformation, including AI.
The Treasury pointed to HM Revenue and Customs’ AI-powered digital assistant “Ask HMRC” and the use of AI diagnostics in the National Health Service as examples of current projects that are helping departments meet efficiency and productivity targets.