Government workers are set to be handed an arsenal of artificial intelligence (AI) tools whose inventor is named after a manipulative parliamentary bureaucrat in the classic sitcom Yes, Minister.
Government says the assistants – called Humphrey – will “batch civil servants’ time” and save them cash, replacing cash that would have been spent on consultants.
But the AI being named after Sir Humphrey Appleby — a “sneering, masterful” figure — has made some questions.
The name was “undermining” the government’s effort to use the technology, Tim Flagg, chief operating officer of trade body UKAI, told me.
The secretary for science and technology Peter Kyle will announce more digital services later on Tuesday, including two apps that store government papers such as electronic driving licences.
This is the latest in the government’s digital transformation plan, and comes on the heels of their AI Opportunities Action Plan announced last week.
‘Humphrey is to me a name very much associated with the Machiavellian protagonist of Yes, Minister,’ says Mr Flagg of UKAI, the AI industry association.
‘That is the first thing that people who are not in that centre of Whitehall are thinking is this isn’t something that’s going to empower them and help them.
The majority of the tools in the Humphrey suite are generative AI models – in this instance, computer systems that take a ton of information and present it in digestible form – for the civil service.
One of them is Consult, which lists people’s responses to public requests for information.
Government says it is now done by pricy third-party consultants, who charge taxpayers ‘about £100,000 every time’.
Parlex, which ‘allows policymakers to scour past parliamentary debates on a given issue’, says the government, and The Times insists it is ‘aimed at avoiding fatal political spats by anticipating MPs’ reactions.
Others announced included better data exchange among departments.
‘I think government is doing the right thing,’ says Mr Flagg.
“They do have some good developers – I’m sure they’re going to be making a killer product.”
