Latest news with #DepartmentforScienceInnovationandTechnology
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Unemployed to get AI chatbot for filling out ‘boring' job applications
Unemployed people will be given an AI chatbot to help them fill out job applications as part of a government scheme to help Britons cut down on 'boring life admin'. The Government will next week unveil plans to develop an 'AI helper' that will help people apply for work – a move that critics warned could mean employers are flooded with irrelevant job applications. The scheme comes amid a surge in working-age Britons on jobless benefits and a slump in entry-level roles. Official data published this week showed that 3.7 million Britons are now claiming Universal Credit with no work requirements – a rise of more than a million since Labour came to power. On Monday the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will issue a notice inviting AI companies to help develop an 'agent' that can fill in forms, complete job applications and register patients at doctors' surgeries. While existing chatbots such as ChatGPT are best known for answering questions, AI agents are capable of handling tasks such as booking flights and sending emails as well as answering questions. The Government's AI agent is expected to be in use in 2027. It could also be used to help people update addresses on driving licences and register to vote. Doing so would only require a short prompt, rather than filling in multiple pages of forms. Officials said the initiative was designed to 'save people time and modernise the state'. However, it comes as employers are grappling with a deluge of job applications as AI tools mean candidates can instantly generate CVs and cover letters tailored to job descriptions. A study by recruitment website Totaljobs released on Friday found that recruiters are drowning in CVs, with almost three quarters saying they were being inundated with irrelevant applications. Claire McCartney, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: 'When used appropriately, AI tools can be a useful aid for jobseekers.' However, she added: 'If candidates heavily rely on or misuse AI tools, it could mean that they're unsuitable for the roles they've applied for.' She said a quarter of firms were attempting to reduce or monitor the use of AI by applicants. Neil Carberry, the chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: 'If you are advertising a job you will get hundreds more CVs than a few years ago and a large number will demonstrate they haven't really thought about the job. 'They have done 50 applications in a couple of days where previously they'd have done 10 good ones.' AI tools such as ChatGPT have been blamed for a decline in graduate opportunities, but Rachel Reeves has also been criticised for hitting the jobs market with record-breaking tax rises.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Donate-a-phone schemes and tech workshops in line for £9.5m Government backing
Donate-a-phone schemes and computer workshops will receive Government backing worth £9.5 million, as part of a plan to help older people and low-income households access an 'essential for modern life'. The funding will go towards charity and council schemes in an effort to tackle digital exclusion. According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the money will help connect the 1.6 million people who live entirely offline with the online world. 'It is unacceptable that in 2025, millions of people across the UK simply can't access the vast opportunities that technology and the online world offers,' telecoms minister Sir Chris Bryant said, adding that 'digital inclusion is an essential for modern life and work, not just something that's nice to have'. Sir Chris also said: 'Making technology widely accessible could be the thing that means a sick patient can speak to a GP remotely, or that helps a young person successfully apply for a job. 'Through this funding we're moving further to empower local leaders and groups nationwide, who are already working tirelessly to get their communities connected and change countless lives for the better.' The Government launched its Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund as part of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which also includes an ambition to pilot a device donation scheme, so re-purposed Whitehall laptops will go to people who need them. Older and disabled people, low-income households and jobseekers are among the groups more likely to be digitally excluded, according to the plan.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Donate-a-phone schemes and tech workshops in line for £9.5m Government backing
Donate-a-phone schemes and computer workshops will receive Government backing worth £9.5 million, as part of a plan to help older people and low-income households access an 'essential for modern life'. The funding will go towards charity and council schemes in an effort to tackle digital exclusion. According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the money will help connect the 1.6 million people who live entirely offline with the online world. 'It is unacceptable that in 2025, millions of people across the UK simply can't access the vast opportunities that technology and the online world offers,' telecoms minister Sir Chris Bryant said, adding that 'digital inclusion is an essential for modern life and work, not just something that's nice to have'. Sir Chris also said: 'Making technology widely accessible could be the thing that means a sick patient can speak to a GP remotely, or that helps a young person successfully apply for a job. 'Through this funding we're moving further to empower local leaders and groups nationwide, who are already working tirelessly to get their communities connected and change countless lives for the better.' The Government launched its Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund as part of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which also includes an ambition to pilot a device donation scheme, so re-purposed Whitehall laptops will go to people who need them. Older and disabled people, low-income households and jobseekers are among the groups more likely to be digitally excluded, according to the plan.
BBC News
27-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ban misogynistic online pornography, review to propose
Degrading, violent and misogynistic online pornography should be banned, a review of the industry is expected to proposed in the review, commissioned by the previous government and led by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, are understood to include making it illegal to possess or publish pornography showing women being choked during sex. After her appointment by Rishi Sunak's government, Baroness Bertin made it clear she would not be approaching the topic from a prudish or disapproving will make 32 recommendations on what should be done about the "high-harm sector" of legal online pornography. The review, due to be published later, is expected to argue that porn videos considered too harmful for any certificate in the offline world should be banned strangulation is already an offence if someone does not consent but its depiction online is not review suggests pornography websites have normalised such behaviour in the real world, with violent and degrading material rife on mainstream platforms amid a "total absence of government scrutiny".Ministers will be urged to give the regulator Ofcom new powers to prosecute online platforms that refuse to remove harmful content. The Department for Science Innovation and Technology has said it will respond to the recommendations once they have been laid before to increase regulation of pornography, including to prevent access by children, are already part of the Online Safety Act, which became law in October 2023. Services that publish their own pornographic content – including with generative AI tools – are already required to have age July, all websites on which pornographic material can be found must also introduce "robust" age-checking techniques such as demanding photo ID or running credit card checks for UK estimates that approximately a third of adult internet users in the UK - 14 million people - watch online pornography, of which about three-quarters are men. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
