UK’s Department for Work and Pensions explores using AI to judge benefit claims

uk dwp department for work and pensions ai benefits welfare artificial intelligence

The UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is exploring the use of AI to judge whether benefit claims are true.

An £8 million 'intelligent automation garage' has been created by the DWP with the goal of developing up to 100 new robots to assist Britain's welfare system. 1,000 new IT staff have also been recruited to help support the DWP's ambitions.

The DWP is working with New York-based UiPath on the system, along with tech giants IBM, Tata Consultancy, and...

16 October 2019 | Government

British PM Johnson warns of AI’s dangers in UN speech and invites leaders to summit

boris johnson un speech ai artificial intelligence dangers warning summit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his maiden speech at the UN to warn of the dangers of AI and invite world leaders to a UK summit.

Johnson opened his speech going over some of the usual things he says would be expected of a British PM: advancing democratic values, rules of a peaceful world, protecting freedom of navigation at sea, and finding a “two-state” solution to the conflict in the Middle-East.

“Of course, I’m proud to do all these things,” says...

25 September 2019 | Government

Facebook will teach its AI to spot shootings using videos of UK police firearms training

facebook ai uk police artificial intelligence shootings terrorist videos live stream

Facebook is using videos of British police firearms training to teach an AI to quickly spot shootings broadcast on its platform and limit their exposure.

Live-streaming poses a very modern but serious problem. As evident with the white supremacist attack in Christchurch in March, live-streams of terrorism can quickly go viral and taking down videos manually is often a slow process.

Automation can step-in to help identify and remove content to prevent terrorists from...

18 September 2019 | Law Enforcement

UK police are concerned AI will lead to bias and over-reliance on automation

British police have expressed concern that using AI in their operations may lead to increased bias and an over-reliance on automation.

A study commissioned by UK government advisory body the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation warned that police felt AI may "amplify" prejudices.

50 experts were interviewed by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for the research, including senior police officers.

Racial profiling continues to be a huge problem. More...

17 September 2019 | Face Recognition

Research: AI is a ‘welcome boost’ that could add millions to GDP

New research from McKinsey and Quantumblack suggests UK businesses adopting AI could see their value increase by 120 percent within a decade.

AI overall could provide a 22 percent GDP boost worth millions to the UK economy, according to the research.

However, the report warns that firms which do not integrate AI into their day-to-day business risk around 20 percent of their cash flow today.

In separate research last year, McKinsey wrote:

“By 2030,...

11 June 2019 | Europe

Twitter’s latest acquisition tackles fake news using AI

Twitter has acquired Fabula AI, a UK-based startup employing artificial intelligence for tackling fake news.

Fake news is among the most difficult challenges of our time. Aside from real stories often being called it by certain politicians, actual fake news is used to coerce people into making decisions.

Governments have been putting increasing pressure on sites like Twitter and Facebook to take more responsibility for the content shared on them.

With billions...

4 June 2019 | Social Media

Babylon Health’s GP at Hand causes £21.6m funding gap

Babylon Health's AI-powered healthcare service GP at Hand has caused a funding gap in excess of £21 million just as further cuts are being made.

Health secretary Matt Hancock has championed GP at Hand since 2017. The digital service has come into question for providing unsafe recommendations, and for taking money away from surgeries already struggling with cuts.

The service has operated through the Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) across London....

24 May 2019 | Healthcare

UK gov is among the ‘most prepared’ for AI revolution

The UK has retained its place among the most prepared governments to harness the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.

An index published today, compiled by Oxford Insights in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, places the UK as Europe’s leading nation and just second on the world stage.

Margot Editor, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said:

"I'm delighted the UK government has been...

21 May 2019 | Europe

Tencent is bullish on British AI startup Prowler.io

Chinese technology giant Tencent has led a $100m (£78.4m) funding round for promising British AI startup Prowler.io.

Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative at Tencent, said:

“The UK is a global leader in AI and is increasingly becoming a focus for companies looking to invest in the sector. PROWLER.io’s data-efficient approach and focus on human-machine teaming really set it apart.

We are looking forward to PROWLER.io applying its AI decision platform to...

20 May 2019 | China

UK government announces board members of AI Council

The UK government has announced the names of board members appointed to its dedicated AI Council.

As one of the global leaders in AI, the global community will be looking to who the UK has appointed to its council and awaiting its guidance.

Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, said:

“Britain is already a leading authority in AI. We are home to some of the world’s finest academic institutions, landing record levels of investment to the sector, and attracting...

16 May 2019 | Government