AI tool used to test feelings about Botox will be rolled out by government

A government AI tool used to test public feeling on different issues is to be rolled out nationwide.

The tool, called Consult, was first used by the Scottish government to understand public views on the regulation on non-surgical cosmetic procedures like Botox and fillers.

It was able to produce results identical to those of human officials, according to the UK government, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations.

It is claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year and around £20m in staffing.

"No one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors," Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said.

Consult is part of a set of AI tools called Humphrey, which are named after the senior civil servant in Yes, Minister.

The government is using them to speed up the work of civil servants and save money.

"The Scottish government has taken a bold first step," said Mr Kyle.

"Very soon, I'll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too - speeding up our work to deliver the plan for change."

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In January, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he wanted "mainline AI in the veins" of the UK and unlock a supposed £400bn economic opportunity with the technology.

A report by Google in April, titled AI Works, suggested that around half of that figure would come from workers using AI to make themselves more efficient.

However, there are significant challenges in embedding AI across workforces, with training, infrastructure and messy data all presenting problems.

At the moment, there are vast age and gender differences in how comfortable people are with the technology.

Research completed by Public First for Google showed that women over 55 are four times less likely to use AI than men under 35.