Latest news with #Consult
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI tool used to test feelings about Botox will be rolled out by government
A government AI tool used to test public feeling on different issues is to be rolled out nationwide. The tool, called Consult, was first used by the Scottish government to understand public views on the regulation on non-surgical cosmetic procedures like Botox and fillers. It was able to produce results identical to those of human officials, according to the UK government, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations. It is claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year and around £20m in staffing. "No one should be wasting time on something can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors," said. Consult is part of a set of AI tools called Humphrey, which are named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister. The government is using them to speed up the work of civil servants and save money. "The Scottish government has taken a bold first step," said Mr Kyle. "Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too - speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change." Read more from climate, science and technology:Concerns in US as Trump sells jewels of America's AI crown In January, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he wanted and unlock a supposed £400bn economic opportunity with the technology. A report by Google in April, titled AI Works, suggested that around half of that figure would come from workers using AI to make themselves more efficient. However, there are significant challenges in embedding AI across workforces, with training, infrastructure and messy data all presenting problems. At the moment, there are vast age and gender differences in how comfortable people are with the technology. Research completed by Public First for Google showed that women over 55 are four times less likely to use AI than men under 35.


STV News
14-05-2025
- Business
- STV News
Government-built AI tool used to cut admin work for human staff
A Government-built AI tool has been used for the first time to summarise public responses to a consultation and is now set to be rolled out more widely in an effort to save money and staff time. The tool, called Consult, has been used on a live consultation by the Scottish Government when it was seeking public views on how to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The UK Government said the tool analysed responses and was able to produce results identical to human officials, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations, while also being developed further, and claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year, which costs around £20 million in staffing. Some consultations receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of responses and the UK Government said the AI tool would reduce the need for human staff to review each response manually and categorise it. Consult is part of a suite of AI tools called Humphrey – named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister – which the UK Government is using to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on administrative tasks and money spent on contractors. That technology is part of wider plans announced in January by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer aimed at making the UK an AI global superpower, which also include proposals to expand the UK's AI infrastructure. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'No-one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors. 'After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues. 'The Scottish Government has taken a bold first step. Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too – speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change.' The Government has said it hopes to make better use of technology across public services, with the aim of making around £45 billion in productivity savings. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country


South Wales Guardian
14-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Government-built AI tool used to cut admin work for human staff
The tool, called Consult, has been used on a live consultation by the Scottish Government when it was seeking public views on how to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The UK Government said the tool analysed responses and was able to produce results identical to human officials, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations, while also being developed further, and claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year, which costs around £20 million in staffing. Some consultations receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of responses and the UK Government said the AI tool would reduce the need for human staff to review each response manually and categorise it. Consult is part of a suite of AI tools called Humphrey – named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister – which the UK Government is using to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on administrative tasks and money spent on contractors. That technology is part of wider plans announced in January by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer aimed at making the UK an AI global superpower, which also include proposals to expand the UK's AI infrastructure. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'No-one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors. 'After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues. 'The Scottish Government has taken a bold first step. Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too – speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change.' The Government has said it hopes to make better use of technology across public services, with the aim of making around £45 billion in productivity savings.


North Wales Chronicle
14-05-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Government-built AI tool used to cut admin work for human staff
The tool, called Consult, has been used on a live consultation by the Scottish Government when it was seeking public views on how to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The UK Government said the tool analysed responses and was able to produce results identical to human officials, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations, while also being developed further, and claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year, which costs around £20 million in staffing. Some consultations receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of responses and the UK Government said the AI tool would reduce the need for human staff to review each response manually and categorise it. Consult is part of a suite of AI tools called Humphrey – named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister – which the UK Government is using to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on administrative tasks and money spent on contractors. That technology is part of wider plans announced in January by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer aimed at making the UK an AI global superpower, which also include proposals to expand the UK's AI infrastructure. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'No-one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors. 'After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues. 'The Scottish Government has taken a bold first step. Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too – speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change.' The Government has said it hopes to make better use of technology across public services, with the aim of making around £45 billion in productivity savings.

Leader Live
14-05-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Government-built AI tool used to cut admin work for human staff
The tool, called Consult, has been used on a live consultation by the Scottish Government when it was seeking public views on how to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The UK Government said the tool analysed responses and was able to produce results identical to human officials, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations, while also being developed further, and claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year, which costs around £20 million in staffing. Some consultations receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of responses and the UK Government said the AI tool would reduce the need for human staff to review each response manually and categorise it. Consult is part of a suite of AI tools called Humphrey – named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister – which the UK Government is using to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on administrative tasks and money spent on contractors. That technology is part of wider plans announced in January by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer aimed at making the UK an AI global superpower, which also include proposals to expand the UK's AI infrastructure. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'No-one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors. 'After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues. 'The Scottish Government has taken a bold first step. Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too – speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change.' The Government has said it hopes to make better use of technology across public services, with the aim of making around £45 billion in productivity savings.