Are politicians turning to AI?
Clive Brooke, a Labour peer, wrote to the government earlier this month to ask 'whether artificial intelligence is used to reply to written parliamentary questions and, if so, what is the extent of this'.
Have government ministers been using AI to answer parliamentary questions from MPs and peers? It's a question one member of the House of Lords has posed – and the answer's still not entirely clear.
On Tuesday, he received a response from Angela Smith, the leader of the House of Lords. She wrote to Lord Brooke: 'All written parliamentary questions are considered on a case by case basis. The Government does not have a specific policy on the use of AI for responding to written parliamentary questions, however staff do have access to AI software tools to support the drafting process.
'All responses are reviewed by policy officials to ensure accuracy and consistency with government policy, and parliamentary questions are signed off by Ministers.'
Which not only doesn't really settle the question – but the answer itself sounds exactly like it has been written by AI. Are our robot overlords already in charge? If so, Rats in a Sack for one welcomes them.
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