Britain aims to speed up civil service work with AI named after Yes, Minister TV character

(Photo credit: AFP)

Source: The Straits Times

In the hit 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister, bureaucrat Humphrey Appleby did everything in his power to ensure that the wheels of the civil service turned slowly.

The British government announced that artificial intelligence (AI) technology would be rolled out to speed up the work of mandarins on Jan 21 – and it is cheekily calling it Humphrey.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour administration said the AI tools would “make the civil service more efficient to turbocharge” his plans to change the country.

A press release from the British Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said Humphrey would improve public services to help reach £45 billion (S$75.1 billion) in savings.

“We will use technology to bear down hard on the nonsensical approach the public sector takes to sharing information and working together to help the people it serves,” said Science Minister Peter Kyle.

One of the tools analyses the thousands of responses the British government receives over consultations. It then presents policy makers with the information.

The British government said this work is currently carried out by consultants and analysts “who can take months to consolidate responses, before billing the taxpayer around £100,000 every time”.

Another will act as a transcription service for meetings, “producing customisable summaries in the formats that public servants need”, the release said.

Other tools will help civil servants “summarise policy” and “prepare briefings”, and provide officials with summaries of relevant laws.

Earlier in January, Mr Starmer pledged to fire up Britain’s economy by making the country an “AI superpower”.

He said it would be used to boost efficiency in the public sector, from education and healthcare to detecting potholes.