Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what purposes Parliamentary officials have used AI in the last 12 months.

Answered by Nick Smith

Artificial intelligence represents a range of opportunities to support the work of Parliamentary officials. Every official has access to Microsoft’s Copilot Chat tool, as do all Parliamentary account holders. No records are kept of how that tool is used. Officials are encouraged to use the tool to support their work, with frequent uses being for taking minutes of meetings, summarising information and analysing data within a secure data environment. A pilot of M365 Copilot, the more advanced version of Microsoft’s AI offering, has just concluded. The lessons from that pilot are now being identified and analysed.

Automatic speech recognition is used to support the transcription of proceedings by Hansard, and testing of the use of AI capabilities is taking place in that context. Specific trials have taken place to test whether AI could be used to support the work of the Table Office in processing written questions and a range of teams in retrieving information efficiently in response to queries. These are not yet in “live” use. Active work continues to identify opportunities to safely use AI by PDS and staff across the Houses.

Mr Speaker has established the Speaker’s Group on AI in Parliaments, chaired by Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means, Nusrat Ghani MP. The Steering Group has been established to consider issues relating to AI and parliamentary scrutiny, AI and parliamentary services, and AI and parliamentary public engagement. Work is also underway to refresh guidance and advice for officials on the use of AI, which is expected to be made available early in the new year.