In a busy month for news, DSIT’s latest announcement details agreements with two of the tech industry biggest names to support the development of specialist expertise and new government tools

Government has struck up partnerships with Silicon Valley heavyweights Meta and Anthropic to help support the transformation of public services.

The GOV.UK Chat tool – which was originally built on technology from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI – is now underpinned by the Claude large language model from Anthropic. The artificial intelligence company is now set to deepen and expand its relationship with the state, via an engagement in which it “will collaborate with the government to create AI assistants that support job seekers with career advice and finding employment”.

The intention is that initial areas of focus will then be expanded into a suite of AI-powered tools that “support people through crucial life moments… [as] part of a cutting-edge plan to use AI agents for national government services”.

Pilots of this technology are expected to begin later this year, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

DSIT has also announced today that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – is to supply $1m (£730,000) to support a fellowship scheme to be delivered by the Alan Turing Institute. Focused on the areas of transport and national security, the programme will see a “cohort of AI fellows… spend the next year developing open‑source tools that tackle some of the biggest challenges facing public services”.

Specific projects run by the Turing – which is the UK’s national institute for data science and AI – will explorations of using “AI to develop models which analyse images and videos, enabling councils to prioritise infrastructure repairs more effectively”.

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In the realm of national security, meanwhile, “specialists will develop cutting-edge AI solutions which run offline or within secured networks” and could help support the decision-making processes of intelligence or defence agencies – without endangering sensitive data.

DSIT said that the fellowship will be delivered by “some of the UK’s leading AI researchers and practitioners”, including: Dr Armin Mustafa from the University of Surrey; Dr Shan Luo from King’s College London; Dr Frank Soboczenski from the University of York; and Angus Williams, who is based full time at the Turing as a senior data scientist.

Digital government minister Ian Murray said: “A digital world needs a modern, digital government. That is why we are enlisting the homegrown talent we already have to elevate our public services. Having met the fellows I know they will play a pivotal role in re-wiring our healthcare, police, transport systems and more, to make sure hardworking people benefit from the opportunities that only technologies like AI can deliver.”

The announcement of the Meta and Anthropic partnerships comes shortly after DSIT unveiled the creation of a new ‘CustomerFirst’ unit with a remit to reform and improve citizen services by “bringing together the best civil service operators alongside leading private sector disruptors and transformation specialists”.

The establishment of this team was one of a wide range of measures set out in the newly published government Digital Roadmap, which contains details of scores of individual initiatives and ambitions across six core areas: services; artificial intelligence; infrastructure; talent; funding; and transparency.