The UK government has unveiled new evidence of how its home-grown artificial intelligence technology is improving efficiency and cutting costs, after it was used to help process thousands of public consultation responses.
The expert AI system, developed in-house as part of the government’s “Humphrey” suite of digital tools, played a key role in sharpening the analysis behind the decision to dismantle water regulator Ofwat.
Traditionally, sorting through large amounts of public feedback could require policy teams months of manual work. In this case, more than 50,000 responses were submitted to the Independent Water Commission. The AI tool – codenamed Consult – classified and grouped responses into key themes in around two hours, at a total cost of £240. Experts spent just 22 hours verifying the machine’s results.
The combination of automation and targeted human review allowed analysts to focus on policy insights rather than administrative sorting, making the overall process faster and more accurate.
A comparison of the system’s performance against two expert human teams showed that the AI agreed with one group at least 83% of the time. In contrast, two human teams agreed with each other only 55% of the time – suggesting that the system increased consistency as well as efficiency.
As well as AI-powered classification, civil servants conducted detailed manual reviews of stakeholder submissions to ensure that complex or nuanced feedback was fully considered in the final recommendations.
The consultation tool has already been successfully deployed elsewhere, including the Scottish Government’s consultation on non-surgical cosmetics and the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which received almost 800 responses. In both cases, executives reported significant time savings and greater analytical accuracy.
Officials estimate that implementing the technology across departments could save 75,000 days of manual analysis annually – the equivalent of £20 million in staffing costs – while giving civil servants more time to focus on policy delivery and reform.
Digital Government Minister Iain Murray said the technology has shown how AI can drive better, fairer and more efficient government.
“This demonstrates the huge potential of technology and AI to deliver better public services and better value for taxpayers,” he said. “By taking over basic administration, Consultation frees up staff to focus on what matters most – getting public services right. It can save hundreds of thousands of pounds while helping us make smarter, faster decisions.”
The wider Humphrey program – the internal digital framework under which Consult was developed – includes other AI-powered tools designed to modernize the civil service. One, known as Redbox, helped more than 5,300 executives summarize lengthy documents and draft briefings more efficiently before being open-sourced for widespread use.
Since its introduction, major technology providers such as Microsoft have begun offering secure AI tools for government use, including Microsoft Copilot, which integrates large language models into existing IT systems. Trials of Copilot within Whitehall showed it could save officials up to two weeks per year in productivity gains.
Building on these successes, government engineers are now developing a new generation of “AI examples” – projects identified by the Prime Minister to demonstrate how artificial intelligence can accelerate policy delivery. Examples include AI-powered tools to speed up placement decisions for housing and systems to help probation officers connect with offenders more effectively.
Although the Redbox project has now ended, its developers have redeployed their expertise to new initiatives within the Humphrey suite, including the creation of GOV.UK Chat, a generative AI-powered assistant that will soon be piloted in the GOV.UK app.