Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the new AI-powered chatbot on the Gov.uk website.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GOV.UK Chat is a prototype chatbot developed by the Government Digital Service. It was first tested with users in November 2023. Results showed that nearly 70 percent of users found the chatbot’s responses useful and that its answers were accurate 80 percent of the time. These insights were used to improve the prototype ahead of the current pilot, which commenced on 7 November 2024. This pilot will be live for approximately 4 weeks, after which GDS will make an assessment of its effectiveness.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent Jabra study Great ExpectAItions: Work in the age of AI, which found that only 27 per cent of workers use AI in their everyday work.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to boosting the responsible adoption of AI across all parts of the economy to drive innovation and kickstart economic growth. The AI Opportunities Action Plan will set out a roadmap to achieve this, including how we can strengthen our AI skills and talent base to ensure AI can be used by workers across the economy. The establishment of Skills England will also be key to embedding the right skills in workers, tackling skills shortages and supporting sustained economic growth.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to attract more AI experts to the UK.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The AI Opportunities Action Plan will outline steps needed to support the growth of the AI sector, including training and attracting top AI talent. This will build on existing programmes including the AI and Data Science Masters Conversion courses. This year over 4,000 students are expected to graduate from these courses, and historically 90% employed graduates from these programmes work in a role related to AI or data science.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and invest in the technology industry.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is taking action to support the UK’s world-leading technology industry, which will be at the heart of our new industrial strategy. The Budget will see Research and Development spending rising to a record level of over £20 billion, with DSIT’s R&D budget increasing by 8.5% in real terms. The new Regulatory Innovation Office will reduce red tape for our most innovative companies and speed up technology development. And we are unlocking further investment in industries of the future, including from institutional investors, through the British Growth Partnership, the National Wealth Fund and the Pensions Review.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure copyright is protected regarding the increasing development of generative AI.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the value of human-centred creativity underpinned by copyright and is committed to supporting the creative industries and AI sectors to grow in partnership.
We are urgently considering the issues concerning generative AI training and copyright. Most recently, the Minister for AI and Digital Government and the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts, and Tourism held roundtables with the creative and AI sectors in September.
Whilst clarity is needed, this is a complex topic and we must take time to hear and carefully consider stakeholder views, so DSIT and DCMS continue to engage with them to inform our approach.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of research modelling by Accenture showing that AI could almost double the UK’s economic growth over the next 15 years.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country. The government will continue to take a robust approach to handling and using statistical information to ensure effective decision-making. We are unable to comment specifically on third-party sources.Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the impact of AI deep fake videos, particularly in relation to politicians.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Deepfakes are captured by the Online Safety Act where they constitute content that is illegal or harmful to children. Category 1 services will need to remove deepfakes, where they prohibit this in their terms of service.
During the election, the Joint Election Security and Preparedness Unit stood up an Election Cell to coordinate teams across government to respond to risks, including disinformation and deepfakes.
Media literacy is also a key tool to build resilience to mis/disinformation and deepfakes. Since 2022, DSIT has provided almost £3million to projects giving children and adults the skills to engage critically with online content.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support AI-driven research concerning the (1) early detection, and (2) cures, for diseases.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT and DHSC are committed to supporting AI-driven medical research. UKRI has invested over £1 billion in AI research and NHS AI Lab has supported deployment of 86 technologies into 40% of NHS acute trusts in England and hundreds of Primary Care Networks, through £113million of funding.
DSIT announced £6.4million to fund a Digital Pathology Research Data Network for training AI models in cancer diagnosis. DHSC committed £21million through the AI Diagnostic Fund, providing trusts with the means to deploy AI imaging technologies. The Data for Research & Development programme is also making health data securely available for developers.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of new AI patents.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth. The IP system supports innovation and investment in AI and ensures that businesses can take advantage of emerging opportunities in this field. The government is implementing the recommendations of the independent review into university spin-outs, which will support greater patenting of academic inventions, including AI. Additionally, the Intellectual Property Office offers a range of services and support to ensure that UK firms can protect their innovations, including AI innovations, where they are patentable.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of data centres to ensure that the UK does not fall behind in its AI strategy.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In addition to securing recent investment in data centres, including a £10 billion investment in the North East of England, a £3.75 billion investment in Hertfordshire and £8 billion investment across the UK from Amazon Web Services, this government is ambitious in its approach to securing the data centre capacity needed to support the digital economy and its AI strategy. DSIT Secretary of State has asked entrepreneur Matt Clifford to create an AI Opportunities Action Plan, which will include recommendations for how to encourage further investment in AI infrastructure.
The government is already taking action to address obstacles to this investment. In the recent consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework, the government has proposed changes to planning policy that would facilitate growth in UK data centre capacity. This is supplemented by work to reform the National Grid connections process, making it easier for data centres to secure a timely grid connection. We continue to closely engage with relevant investors and operators and will take further action where necessary to enable the data centre investment that will underlie our AI strategy and wider economic growth.