Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

Over the last 12 months AI has been used for a variety of purposes in the Department for Transport.

The department is participating in a pilot of the Microsoft Copilot AI product with ~230 staff. The pilot is being conducted to determine the benefits of this product (particularly potential efficiencies) and its reliability in relation to accuracy and data security.

The department also has an internal programme to develop bespoke in-house AI solutions for a number of specific use cases. The majority of these are still in development and have therefore not yet been used. Those that have are listed below:

• Automated drafting of correspondence: AI is being used (currently within a small pilot) to create first drafts of responses to treat official correspondence. These are checked and finalised by officials before being sent.

• Automated consultation analysis: AI is being developed to streamline the analysis of open text responses to public consultations, in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute. This is being piloted with a live call for ideas. The performance of the AI is being thoroughly evaluated by social research specialist to ensure reliability.

• Fraud detection: AI enabled computer vision has been used to detect fabricated applications for the department's electric vehicle chargepoint grant. This has flagged a large number of applications, leading to further investigation and grants being reclaimed.

• Automation of roadside surveys: AI enabled computer vision has been used to automate aspects of a survey to measure vehicle excise duty compliance, replacing a time-consuming manual process.

• HGV detection: AI enabled computer vision has been used to analyse ariel imagery to assess potential locations for a future network of electric HGV chargers.

Where personal data has been processed in any of the above examples a Data Protection Impact Assessment has been carried out and all data has been handled in-line with the department’s personal information charter.